Archbishop Desmond Tutu is well known and respected for being the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town as well as the work he did as Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was an active human rights and anti-apartheid activist. He has said many wise words over the years and we look at some of his more famous quotes.
Tutu was born in Klerksdorp, it what was then the Transvaal in 1931. He studies to become a teacher and taught high school for three years before studying theology. He was ordained as a priest in 1960. Desmond Tutu then went on to further his theological studies in England. He became the Dean of St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1975. This was the first time a black person had achieved this role.
He went on to become Bishop of Lesotho and then the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches, again the first black to hold this role. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
Bishop Desmond Tutu has given countless speeches and written several books and other material. As a result there are many great quotes form the man.
Given his background, many focus on religion but he also talks a lot about forgiveness, freedom, education, humanity, and many other topics.
Here are just some of his most famous quotes.
“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
“We learn from history that we don’t learn from history!”
“Inclusive, good-quality education is a foundation for dynamic and equitable societies.”
“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.”
“How could you have a soccer team if all were goalkeepers? How would it be an orchestra if all were French horns?”
“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.”
“My father always used to say, “Don’t raise your voice. Improve your argument.” Good sense does not always lie with the loudest shouters, nor can we say that a large, unruly crowd is always the best arbiter of what is right.”
“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river.
We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”
“Without forgiveness, there’s no future.”
“Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering–remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you dont want to repeat what happened.”
“We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.”
“We inhabit a universe that is characterized by diversity.”
“Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.”
“Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.”
“A person is a person through other persons.”
“None of us comes into the world fully formed. We would not know how to think, or walk, or speak, or behave as human beings unless we learned it from other human beings. We need other human beings in order to be human. I am because other people are. A person is entitled to a stable community life, and the first of these communities is the family.”
“When we see others as the enemy, we risk becoming what we hate. When we oppress others, we end up oppressing ourselves. All of our humanity is dependent upon recognizing the humanity in others.”
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
“A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.”
“In the end what matters is not how good we are but how good God is. Not how much we love Him but how much He loves us. And God loves us whoever we are, whatever we’ve done or failed to do, whatever we believe or can’t.”
“We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know. We are made to tell the world that there are no outsiders. All are welcome: black, white, red, yellow, rich, poor, educated, not educated, male, female, gay, straight, all, all, all. We all belong to this family, this human family, God’s family.”
“We were made to enjoy music, to enjoy beautiful sunsets, to enjoy looking at the billows of the sea and to be thrilled with a rose that is bedecked with dew… Human beings are actually created for the transcendent, for the sublime, for the beautiful, for the truthful… and all of us are given the task of trying to make this world a little more hospitable to these beautiful things.”
“Like when you sit in front of a fire in winter — you are just there in front of the fire. You don’t have to be smart or anything. The fire warms you.”
“Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.”
“Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back.”
“We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water.”
“It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.”
“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.”
“Dear Child of God, I am sorry to say that suffering is not optional.”
“A person is a person through other persons; you can’t be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.”
“I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.”
“We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.”
“There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.”
Reading these quotes might give you ideas on how to improve your life, your family, and your community.