“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

— Desmond Tutu

As quoted in Unexpected News : Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes (1984) by Robert McAfee Brown, p. 19

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Desmond Tutu 85

South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Priz… 1931

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“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

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

As quoted in Unexpected News : Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes (1984) by Robert McAfee Brown, p. 19
Context: If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.

“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

Elie Wiesel (1928–2016) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor

“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but thought about it. Be aware of the thoughts you are thinking. Separate them from the situation, which is always neutral. It is as it is.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

“I omit from consideration here the fact that people who demand neutrality in any situation are usually not neutral, but in favor of the status quo.”

Max Eastman (1883–1969) American activist

Attributed by internet sources to Enjoyment of Poetry: With Other Essays in Aesthetics (1939), but not confirmed.
Source: Enjoyment of Poetry With Anthology for Enjoyment of Poetry (1951), p. 233 https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/oV5emKH2uhcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=status%20quo
Source: The quote appears to have been first published in the essay "The Slogan, 'Propaganda Has No Place in Art,' Is The Symptom Of A Decaying Culture" https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/WX3NyDFUC_MC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=eastman, Stage Magazine (1934).