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To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.

Desmond Tutu

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Desmond Tutu
Age: 93
Born: 1931
Born: October 7
Activist
Anglican Priest
Non-Fiction Writer
Archbisphop Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Take
Life
Revenge
Punishment
Justice
Lost

More quotes by Desmond Tutu

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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
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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
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When we look at a conflict, it is so often rooted in injustice, prejudice, competition for resources, poverty, poor governance and corruption.
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Now that they talk about Islam as being a violent faith, when you look at the history of Christendom, the Crusades and the many wars of religion that were fought, the cruelty of Christians in burning what they believed to be witches and burning heretics, and then very recently they were responsible for the Holocaust... it was Christians.
Desmond Tutu
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If I diminish you, I diminish myself
Desmond Tutu
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I can't control what happens to me, but I can control how I respond to it.
Desmond Tutu
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People are able to justify immense cruelty and say that it is something that is sanctioned by their faith.
Desmond Tutu
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God could have created us to be automatons who were always choosing the right side, making the right decision. It is an incredible thing, God said I want persons who therefore have freedom.
Desmond Tutu
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In terms of the New Testament the Jews must suffer, therefore we will put it into practice if we will in charge and there will be no sympathy for the Jews when the blacks take over.
Desmond Tutu
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One of the ways of helping to destroy a people is to tell them they don't have a history that they have no roots.
Desmond Tutu
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We don't want apartheid liberalized. We want it dismantled. You can't improve something that is intrinsically evil.
Desmond Tutu
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Life is more than breath and a heartbeat meaning and purpose are the life of life.
Desmond Tutu
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I regard Abraham as my ancestor. Some of the greatest inspiration I have got has come from what we call the Old Testament prophets and what Jews would say our prophets.
Desmond Tutu
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Being formed into a nation takes some doing.
Desmond Tutu
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We can enjoy a self-assurance that doesn't depend on the state of things outside ourselves, be it downturns or booms or whatever.
Desmond Tutu
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If you recall the happiest moments in your life, they are all from when you were doing something for somebody else.
Desmond Tutu
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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
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True peace must be anchored in justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute.
Desmond Tutu
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My message to the international community is that our silence and complicity especially on the situation in Gaza shames us all. It is almost like the behaviour of the military junta in Burma
Desmond Tutu
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I have often said to my Jewish friends: Please just remember where you come from. Remember Yahweh, who said to the Israelites, 'Treat the alien well with justice.' Almost all of the passion that we have has come from the inspiration that we have got from the Jewish Scriptures.
Desmond Tutu