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 DESMONDA person is a person through other persons; you can’t be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.
More Tutu Desmond Quotes
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Within every hopeless situation and every seemingly hopeless person lies the possibility of transformation
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We are fragile creatures, and it is from this weakness, not despite it, that we discover the possibility of true joy.
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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.
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You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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We are made for loving. If we don’t love, we will be like plants without water.
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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.
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We learn from history that we don’t learn from history.
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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.
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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.
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Life of wholeness does not depend on what we experience. Wholeness depends on how we experience our lives
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Forgiveness is truly the grace by which we enable another person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew.
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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.
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It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul.
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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.
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God is transforming the world now–through us–because God loves us.
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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.
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Dear Child of God, I write these words because we all experience sadness, we all come at times to despair, and we all lose hope that the suffering in our lives and in the world will ever end.
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Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.
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The path of joy was connection and the path of sorrow was separation.
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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.
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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.
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A very important but difficult piece of renewing relationships is accepting responsibility for our part in any conflict.
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Forgiveness is simply about understanding that every one of us is both inherently good and inherently flawed.
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