Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu, CHis a South African social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionReligious Leader
Date of Birth7 October 1931
CityKlerksdorp, South Africa
eye past doors
Having looked the past in the eye, having asked for forgiveness and having made amends, let us shut the door on the past—not in order to forget it but in order not to allow it to imprison us.
hurt real eye
Forgiving and being reconciled to our enemies or our loved ones are not about pretending that things are other than they are. It is not about patting one another on the back and turning a blind eye to the wrong. True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth. It could even sometimes make things worse. It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing. Superficial reconciliation can bring only superficial healing.
eyebrows looks pits
It is quite exhilarating to speak about a God who has an incredible bias, a notorious bias in favor of the downtrodden. You look at Exodus and the Israelites' escape from a bottomless pit. God is not evenhanded. God is biased up to his eyebrows.
eye biblical land
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.
africa behind beings despair human outside partners potential
We in Africa wonder: Can the world outside see the human beings -- or the potential partners -- behind the unrelenting despair?
cup football tournament
The World Cup will be more than just a football tournament
family obligation people radical
Sometimes people think (that) to see that we are family is to be sentimental. But one has to say: This is one of the most radical things, actually. When we do what we think is charitable, it isn't anything more than our obligation as family members.
assembly basically full houses michele
Full houses at the Assembly Rooms. To keep Michele sweet. That's basically it.
africa denial faced facing facts frequently gone hearing horrendous situation
We have frequently gone into denial when faced with unpleasant, unpalatable facts and now we are hearing from governments in Africa that they are not going into denial but that they are facing up to a horrendous situation forthwith,
Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.
We would like to see you departing peacefully.
bad-day pride hands
Most poor people I know are proud and really want not a handout but a hand up. They do have an inherent pride and dignity, and we should treat them as those who have fallen on bad days.
believe home evil
I would hope that wherever I was I would be me. I have been influenced by some wonderful people who showed me that there is an integral relationship between faith and life at home. Evil is evil, repression is repression anywhere. And if it is not consistent with what one believes is God's will, then I would hope that one would be able to witness it, and there are wonderful people who do so in very great risks to themselves.
exercise thinking wanted
I think it is a good exercise to ask oneself, "How would I have wanted to be treated?"