Forgiveness is truly the grace by which we enable another person to get up, and get up with dignity, to begin anew.
TUTU DESMONDOur maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other.
More Tutu Desmond Quotes
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The path of joy was connection and the path of sorrow was separation.
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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.
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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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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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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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You show your humanity by how you see yourself not as apart from others but from your connection to others.
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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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Transformation begins in you, wherever you are, whatever has happened, however you are suffering. Transformation is always possible.
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We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreaks without being broken.
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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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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 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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Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back.
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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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Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.
TUTU DESMOND