Quote

Forgiveness and reconciliation are not just ethereal, spiritual, other-worldly activities. They have to do with the real world. They are realpolitik, because in a very real sense, without forgiveness, there is no future.

Desmond Tutu

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Desmond Tutu
Age: 93
Born: 1931
Born: October 7
Activist
Anglican Priest
Non-Fiction Writer
Archbisphop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Without
Reconciliation
Real
Worldly
World
Activities
Forgiveness
Activity
Future
Spiritual
Realpolitik
Sense
Ethereal

More quotes by Desmond Tutu

Image
I mean in the South African case, many of those who were part of death squads would have been respectable members of their white community, people who went to church on Sunday, every Sunday.
Desmond Tutu
Image
True reconciliation is never cheap, for it is based on forgiveness which is costly. Forgiveness in turn depends on repentance, which has to be based on an acknowledgment of what was done wrong, and therefore on disclosure of the truth. You cannot forgive what you do not know.
Desmond Tutu
Image
There is no peace precisely because there has been no justice. As painful and inconvenient as justice may be, we have seen that the alternative allowing accountability to fall by the wayside is worse.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Nothing is too much trouble for Love.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Even the worst dictator, there is not a single one of them who would say Oh yes, I violate human rights. They all claim oh no, we respect human rights even when they are doing the most egregious things.
Desmond Tutu
Image
I certainly know that I would not be able to survive if it were not for the fact that I am being upheld by the prayers of so many people.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Without forgiveness, there is no future. Forgiveness is not nebulous, impractical and idealistic. It's thoroughly realistic. It's real political in the long run.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Let girls be girls and not brides
Desmond Tutu
Image
If we have loved well while we were alive, there is life after death here-our love will go on for generations.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Naming a center after a person who is still alive can make it seem that an individual somehow on their own was able to accomplish what he accomplished.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Life is funny and we are really funny, especially when we get to be hoity toity we can be so ridiculous. Life is fun.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Restorative justice says No, the offense affected a relationship and what you are seeking for is to restore the relationship, to heal the relationship.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Beware when you take on the Church of God. Others have tried and have bitten the dust.
Desmond Tutu
Image
God is trying to woo us into a love affair with God.
Desmond Tutu
Image
We so desperately long for all of us to learn that we are meant for one another. We are meant for complementarity. The Syrians are members of our family.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Sadly, the things that we have set out as being worth striving for are not ultimately the things that satisfy human longings. And why not? Because we are practically the ultimate paradox: the finite made for the infinite.
Desmond Tutu
Image
There are different kinds of justice. Retributive justice is largely Western. The African understanding is far more restorative - not so much to punish as to redress or restore a balance that has been knocked askew.
Desmond Tutu
Image
I don't want a moratorium on the death penalty. I want the abolition of it. I can't understand why a country [USA] that's so committed to human rights doesn't find the death penalty an obscenity.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Every single one of us can do something, however small, to make a difference.
Desmond Tutu
Image
Resentment and anger are bad for your blood pressure and your digestion.
Desmond Tutu