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If you are setting out to be joyful you are not going to end up being joyful. You’re going to find yourself turned in on yourself. It’s like a flower. You open, you blossom, really because of other people.

Tutu Desmond

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.
TUTU DESMOND

Deep Family God Yourself
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.
TUTU DESMOND

Fire Smart Warm Winter Yourself
We are fragile creatures, and it is from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of true joy.
TUTU DESMOND

Discover Joy Philosophy Possible True Weakness
There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.
TUTU DESMOND

Deep Difficult Wake Up
When we see others as separate, they become a threat. When we see others as part of us, as connected, as interdependent, then there is no challenge we cannot face—together.
TUTU DESMOND

Challenge Connection Philosophy Separate Togetherness Unity
There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream to find out why they’re falling in.
TUTU DESMOND

Deep Fall People Pull River Stop
I do believe there are monstrous and evil acts, but I do not believe those who commit such acts are monsters or evil.
TUTU DESMOND

Act Believe Commitment Deep Evil Philosophy
We do not heal in isolation. When we reach out and connect with one another—when we tell the story, name the hurt, grant forgiveness, and renew or release the relationship—our suffering begins to transform.
TUTU DESMOND

Alone Connection Deep Forgiveness Healing Hurt Philosophy Relationship Story
I wish I could shut up, but I can’t, and I won’t.
TUTU DESMOND

Myself One Liner
Forgiveness does not relieve someone of responsibility for what they have done. Forgiveness does not erase accountability. It is not about turning a blind eye or even turning the other cheek.
TUTU DESMOND

Accountable Eyes Forgiveness Philosophy Responsibility
You show your humanity by how you see yourself not as apart from others but from your connection to others.
TUTU DESMOND

Connection Humanity Philosophy Yourself
Though wrong gratifies in the moment, good yields its gifts over a lifetime.
TUTU DESMOND

Good Life Moment Wrong
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.
TUTU DESMOND

Community Human Life Myself Person Philosophy
It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.
TUTU DESMOND

Compassion Deep Discover Empathy God Philosophy Soul Vulnerable Weak
God is transforming the world now–through us–because God loves us.
TUTU DESMOND

God Philosophy Religious Transform World
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.
TUTU DESMOND

Believe End Fail God Good Himself Love Philosophy Spiritual

If you are setting out to be joyful you are not going to end up being joyful. You’re going to find yourself turned in on yourself. It’s like a flower. You open, you blossom, really because of other people.

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Popular Authors

If you are setting out to be joyful you are not going to end up being joyful. You’re going to find yourself turned in on yourself. It’s like a flower. You open, you blossom, really because of other people.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

More Tutu Desmond Quotes