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 DESMONDIf 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.
More Tutu Desmond Quotes
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A person is a person through other persons.
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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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In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.
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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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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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A person is a person through other persons; you can’t be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.
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We learn from history that we don’t learn from history.
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God is transforming the world now–through us–because God loves us.
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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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You show your humanity by how you see yourself not as apart from others but from your connection to others.
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We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.
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The path of joy was connection and the path of sorrow was separation.
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I do believe there are monstrous and evil acts, but I do not believe those who commit such acts are monsters or evil.
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We have hardship without becoming hard. We have heartbreaks without being broken.
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Our 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.
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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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Transformation begins in you, wherever you are, whatever has happened, however you are suffering. Transformation is always possible.
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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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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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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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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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Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.
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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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Life is more than breath and a heartbeat; meaning and purpose are the life of life.
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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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Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
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