Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.
—Desmond Tutu
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said Let us pray. We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Deception/Lying
Without forgiveness, there’s no future.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Forgiveness
Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Goodness, Kindness
I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Leadership, Leaders
Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Racism
I wonder whether they have rum and Coke in Heaven?. Maybe it’s too mundane a pleasure, but I hope so—as a sundowner. Except, of course, the sun never goes down there. Oh, man, this heaven is going to take some getting used to.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Heaven
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
Topics: Oppression
When your dreams turn to dust, vacuum.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Perseverance
I am fifty-two years of age. I am a bishop in the Anglican Church, and a few people might be constrained to say that I was reasonably responsible. In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute—a white skin.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: Racism
You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.
—Desmond Tutu
Topics: God, Family
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Nelson Mandela South African Political leader
Jack Penn South African Surgeon
Benjamin Whichcote British Anglican Priest
Richard Hooker English Theologian, Political Theorist
William Ralph Inge English Anglican Clergyman
William Croswell Doane American Anglican Hymn writer
Richard Chenevix Trench Irish Archbishop, Poet
Thomas Aquinas Italian Catholic Priest
Henri Nouwen Dutch Catholic Priest
Sam Shoemaker American Episcopal Priest