We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreaks without being broken.
TUTU DESMONDOut of the cacophony of random suffering and chaos that can mark human life, the life artist sees or creates a symphony of meaning and order.
More Tutu Desmond Quotes
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back.
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The path of joy was connection and the path of sorrow was separation.
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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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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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If you want to keep people subjugated, the last thing you place in their hands is a Bible. There’s nothing more radical, nothing more revolutionary, nothing more subversive against injustice and oppression than the Bible.
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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.
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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.
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