“I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.”

—  Desmond Tutu

As quoted in The Christian Science Monitor (20 December 1984)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum." by Desmond Tutu?
Desmond Tutu photo
Desmond Tutu85
South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Priz… 1931

Related quotes

Ayn Rand photo

“The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles.”

Ayn Rand book Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal

Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal (1966)

Muammar Gaddafi photo

“I am an international leader, the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa and the imam of Muslims, and my international status does not allow me to descend to a lower level.”

Muammar Gaddafi (1942–2011) Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist

Remarks after insulting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and having his microphone cut (30 March 2009), quoted in The Scotsman (31 March 2009) " Gaddafi walks out of summit after attack on Saudi king http://news.scotsman.com/world/Gaddafi-walks-out-of-summit.5123610.jp" by Salah Nasrawi

Robert Grosseteste photo

“In a vacuum which is imagined as infinite there cannot be local differences, both on account of its infinity, and also because of the fact that the vacuum, if it exists, would have no nature but a privation, and therefore it can have no natural differences.”

Robert Grosseteste (1175–1253) English bishop and philosopher

Commentarius in VIII Libros Physicorum Aristoteles (c. 1230-1235)

Francois Rabelais photo

“Nature abhors a vacuum.”

Francois Rabelais book Gargantua and Pantagruel

Natura abhorret vacuum. <br class="br"> Chapter 5 http://books.google.com/books?id=tBROAAAAcAAJ&amp;q=%22natura+abhorret+vacuum%22&amp;pg=PA22#v=onepage. <br class="br">Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Gargantua (1534)

Sun Myung Moon photo

“Japanese leaders aren't you teaching a principle that I do not teach, when you say, "I am Abel because I am a church leader. You are Cain. Cain obeys Abel. This is the Principle. So obey." There is no such principle. The person who does not fulfill his mission and become the embodiment of love is not Abel.”

Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012) Korean religious leader

http://www.unification.org/ucbooks/GWW/GWW-29.htm

Robert Sheckley photo

“Nature abhors a vacuum, and I don’t like it much either.”

Robert Sheckley book Mindswap

Source: Mindswap (1966), Chapter 32 (p. 153)

Asif Ali Zardari photo

“I still don't think like that. Because of Benazir, nobody else [in her party] was thinking about leadership. This position comes about only because of the vacuum that was created with her death.”

Asif Ali Zardari (1955) politician in Pakistan

Zardari at an interview of Newsweek, answering about his presidency http://www.newsweek.com/qa-asif-ali-zardari-pervez-musharrafs-resignation-88063

“As you will one day discover, a leader is not a leader because of the way that he or she behaves. He is a leader only because of the way that he is treated by others.”

Charles Sheffield book Resurgence

Source: The Heritage Universe, Resurgence (2002), Chapter 16, “And Then There Were None” (p. 187)

Augusten Burroughs photo

“I am prone to envy. It is one of my three default emotions, the others being greed and rage. I have also experienced compassion and generosity, but only fleetingly and usually while drunk, so I have little memory.”

Augusten Burroughs (1965) American writer

Desmond Tutu photo

“Freedom and liberty lose out by default because good people are not vigilant.”

Desmond Tutu (1931) South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner

Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches (1984)

Related topics