50 Desmond Tutu Quotes – His Wisest Words!
Looking for the best Desmond Tutu quotes? These 50 epic Desmond Tutu quotes will show you what true wisdom is all about.
Hey my friend,
Let’s chat about Desmond Tutu quotes.
The following quotes about Desmond Tutu will instantly warm your heart.
These Desmond Tutu quotes will also make you realise what TRUE wisdom looks like.
Let me share with you the most inspiring, loveliest Desmond Tutu quotes.
So without further ado, here are the 50 Desmond Tutu quotes – embrace these and enjoy!
DESMOND TUTU QUOTES
1 – Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning. Desmond Tutu
2 – I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. I felt fear more times than I can remember, but I hid it, a mask of boldness. The brave man is not to he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. Desmond Tutu
3 – There are going to be frustrations in life. The question is not: How do I escape? It is: How can I use this as something positive? Desmond Tutu
4 – Taking care of others, helping others, ultimately is the way to discover your own joy and to have a happy life. Desmond Tutu
5 – If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. Desmond Tutu
6 – Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back. Desmond Tutu
7- 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. Desmond Tutu
8 – There is something in us that refuses to be regarded as less than human. We are created for freedom. Desmond Tutu
9 – 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. Desmond Tutu
10 – If we think we are something special or not special enough, then fear, nervousness, stress, and anxiety arise. Desmond Tutu
DESMOND TUTU QUOTES
11 – In our own ways, we are all broken. Out of that brokenness, we hurt others. Forgiveness is the journey we take toward healing the broken parts. It is how we become whole again. Desmond Tutu
12 – We are always at our best when compassion enables us to recognize the unique pressures and singular stories of the people on the other side of our conflicts. Desmond Tutu
13 – If you want peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. Desmond Tutu
14 – Renewing a relationship is a creative act. We make a new relationship. It is possible to build a new relationship regardless of the realities of the old relationship. Desmond Tutu
15 – I pointed out that so often our parenting in the West is too focused on our children, and their needs alone, rather than helping them to learn to care for others. Desmond Tutu
16 – 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. Desmond Tutu
17- The more time you spend thinking about yourself, the more suffering you will experience. Desmond Tutu
18 – What the Dalai Lama and I are offering is a way of handling your worries: thinking about others. You can think about others who are in a similar situation or perhaps even worse a situation, but who have survived, even thrived. It does help quite a lot to see yourself as part of a greater whole. Desmond Tutu
19 – Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world. Desmond Tutu
20 – You are made for perfection, but you are not yet perfect. You are a masterpiece in the making. Desmond Tutu
DESMOND TUTU QUOTES
21 – Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are. The universe can take quite a while to deliver. Desmond Tutu
22 – Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument. Desmond Tutu
23 – We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water. Desmond Tutu
24 – Our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other. Desmond Tutu
25 – I always consider myself personally one of seven billion human beings. Nothing special. So, on that level, I have tried to make people aware that the ultimate source of happiness is simply a healthy body and a warm heart. Desmond Tutu
26 – A person is a person because s/he recognizes others as persons. Desmond Tutu
27- Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes. Desmond Tutu
28 – When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum. Desmond Tutu
29 – Though wrong gratifies in the moment, good yields its gifts over a lifetime. Desmond Tutu
30 – Much depends on your attitude. If you are filled with negative judgment and anger, then you will feel separate from other people. You will feel lonely. But if you have an open heart and are filled with trust and friendship, even if you are physically alone, even living a hermit’s life, you will never feel lonely. Desmond Tutu
DESMOND TUTU QUOTES
31 – To treat anyone as if they were less than human, less than a brother or a sister, no matter what they have done, is to contravene the very laws of our humanity. Desmond Tutu
32 – Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring. Desmond Tutu
33 – Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another. Desmond Tutu
34 – ‘How are we?’ This understanding sees that someone else’s achievements or happiness is a very real way as our own. So rejoicing in others’ good fortune really brings a lot of positive benefits. Desmond Tutu
35 – We learn from history that we don’t learn from history! Desmond Tutu
36 – We are fragile creatures, and it is from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of pure joy. Desmond Tutu
37- We are not responsible for what breaks us, but we can be responsible for what puts us back together again. Naming the hurt is how we begin to repair our broken parts. Desmond Tutu
38 – 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. Desmond Tutu
39 – I wish I could shut up, but I can’t, and I won’t. Desmond Tutu
40 – We ought not to make people feel guilty when it is painful. It is painful, and you have to acknowledge that it is painful. But actually, even in the midst of that pain, you can recognize the gentleness of the nurse who is looking after you.
You can see the skill of the surgeon who is going to be performing the operation on you. Yet sometimes the pain can be so intense that you do not even have the capacity to do that. Desmond Tutu
DESMOND TUTU QUOTES
41 – 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. Desmond Tutu
42 – It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul. Desmond Tutu
43 – Think about it this way. If your health is strong, when viruses come they will not make you sick. If your overall health is weak, even small viruses will be very dangerous for you.
Similarly, if your mental health is sound, then the disturbances come, you will have some distress but recover quicker. If your mental health is not good, then small disturbances, small problems will cause you much pain and suffering.
You will have much fear and worry, much sadness and despair, much anger and aggravation. Desmond Tutu
44 – When we see these things (suffering), we realize that not only do we suffer, but so do many of our human brothers and sisters. So when we look at the same event from a wider perspective, we will reduce the worrying and our own suffering. Desmond Tutu
45 – To forgive is not just to be altruistic. Desmond Tutu
46 – Discovering more joy does not, I’m sorry to say, save us from the inevitability of hardships and heartbreaks. In fact, we may cry more easily, but we will laugh more easily, too. Perhaps we are just more alive.
Yet as we discover more joy, we can face suffering in a way that ennobles rather than embitters. We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreak without being broken. Desmond Tutu
47- My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together. Desmond Tutu
48 – A person is a person through other persons; you can’t be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships. Desmond Tutu
49 – Life is more than breath and a heartbeat; meaning and purpose are the life of life. Desmond Tutu
50 – Especially today; there is not much focus on inner values in education. Then, instead of inner values, we become self-centered, always thinking: I, I, I. A self-centered attitude brings a sense of insecurity and fear.
Distrust. Too much fear brings frustration. Too much frustration brings anger. So that’s the psychology, the system of mind, of emotion, which creates a chain reaction. Desmond Tutu
BONUS: There is a certain kind of dignity we admire, and to which we aspire, in the person who refuses to meet anger with anger, violence with violence, or hatred with hatred. Desmond Tutu
BONUS: People are not born hating each other and wishing to cause harm. It is a learned condition. Desmond Tutu
BONUS: One of the most blasphemous consequences of injustice, especially racist injustice, is that it can make a child of God doubt that he or she is a child of God. Desmond Tutu
Much love,
Frances Vidakovic
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I’m Frances Vidakovic – a mindset & action coach for quietly ambitious women who want to stop overthinking and finally take aligned action. I help women achieve their goals and follow through on what matters, without sacrificing their sanity or soul.