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 More Quotes by Desmond Tutu More Quotes From Desmond Tutu In the Bible, we first encounter God when he sides with a bunch of slaves against a powerful Pharaoh, an act of grace freely given. Desmond Tutu encounters powerful grace No peace is impossible when people are determined to achieve it Desmond Tutu determined impossible people I can't control what happens to me, but I can control how I respond to it. Desmond Tutu i-can happens I certainly know that I would not be able to survive if it were not for the fact that I am being upheld by the prayers of so many people. Desmond Tutu able prayer people Love is universal. You don't have to tell somebody that loving is better than hating. You don't have to believe in God to know that stealing is bad. All of God's children and their different faiths help to realize the immensity of God. No faith contains the whole truth about God. And certainly Christians don't have a corner on God. All of us belong to God. Desmond Tutu hate christian children Goodness is stronger than evil. Desmond Tutu hate love-is peace When will we learn, when will the people of the world get up and say, Enough is enough. God created us for fellowship. God created us so that we should form the human family, existing together because we were made for one another. We are not made for an exclusive self-sufficiency but for interdependence, and we break the law of our being at our peril. Desmond Tutu self law people A jealous person is doubly unhappy-over what he has, which is judged inferior, and over which he has not, which is judged superior. Such a person is doubly removed from knowing the true blessing of creation. Desmond Tutu jealousy knowing blessing 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 risk hate humanity If we are to say that religion cannot be concerned with politics then we are really saying that there is a substantial part of human life in which God's writ does not run. If it is not God's, then whose is it? Who is in charge if not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Desmond Tutu running father jesus We can carry the burden of hurt throughout our lives. We can make the hurt that we have experienced the defining aspect of our stories of ourselves. That means that somebody else gets to say who we are, somebody else gets to decide how we feel, and somebody else gets to decide how we see the world. Forgiveness not only frees us from the burden of someone else's opinion of us, but it allows us the opportunity to really write a story of ourselves that we can love, enjoy, relish, and live into. Desmond Tutu hurt writing mean Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes. Desmond Tutu powerful doe reality Love your enemy; it will ruin his reputation. Desmond Tutu ruins love-you enemy As long as we fail to face up to the past and deal with it accordingly, the future will smack of corruption. Desmond Tutu faces long past Most people would say "Ah, Mahatma Gandhi, what a wonderful man, Mother Teresa, maybe Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama." And when you look at those people it's not the macho, aggressive, successful people, we may envy them, their bank balances and kind of thing, yes and for being successful. But we do not revere them. Desmond Tutu successful kings mother Isn't it sad, that in a time when we face so many devastating problems - poverty, HIV/AIDS, war and conflict - that in our Communion we should be investing so much time and energy on disagreement about sexual orientation? [The Communion, which] used to be known for embodying the attribute of comprehensiveness, of inclusiveness, where we were meant to accommodate all and diverse views, saying we may differ in our theology but we belong together as sisters and brothers [now seems] hell-bent on excommunicating one another. God must look on and God must weep. Desmond Tutu brother views war I've often been a little concerned by people who say they are color-blind, people who claim, in some ways, not to be aware of race, and I hope that those who will be looking for a vision of the future will be a little more honest, and say race actually does matter. Desmond Tutu visions-of-the-future color race 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. Desmond Tutu sunset sea beautiful Every praying person, every person who has an encounter with God, must have a passionate concern for his or her brother and sister, his or her neighbor. To treat any of these as if he were less than the child of God is to deny the validity of one's spiritual existence. Desmond Tutu brother spiritual children Each of us is precious to God because each of us has their name written on the palms of God's hands. And God says there are no outsiders - black, white, yellow, short, tall, young, old, rich, poor, gay, lesbian, straight - everyone. All belong. And God says, I have only you to help me realize my dream. Help me. Desmond Tutu gay dream hands
