There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.
TUTU DESMONDDiscovering more joy does not, save us from the inevitability of hardship and heartbreak.
More Tutu Desmond Quotes
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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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I wish I could shut up, but I can’t, and I won’t.
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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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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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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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We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of the beautiful things that you and I know.
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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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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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Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone’s back.
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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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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 of wholeness does not depend on what we experience. Wholeness depends on how we experience our lives
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Dear Child of God, I am sorry to say that suffering is not optional.
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In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful.
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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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Life is more than breath and a heartbeat; meaning and purpose are the life of life.
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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 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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Language is very powerful. Language does not just describe reality. Language creates the reality it describes.
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God is transforming the world now–through us–because God loves us.
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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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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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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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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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