Quote

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.

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
Asked
Doors
Imprison
Forget
Amends
Eye
Shut
Order
Forgiveness
Past
Allow
Made
Door
Looked

More quotes by Desmond Tutu

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Despite all of the ghastliness in the world, human beings are made for goodness. The ones that are held in high regard are not militarily powerful, nor even economically prosperous. They have a commitment to try and make the world a better place.
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Life is more than breath and a heartbeat meaning and purpose are the life of life.
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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.
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The destruction of the earth’s environment is the human rights challenge of our time.
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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.
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We have an extraordinary God. God is a mighty God, but this God needs you. When someone is hungry, bread doesn't come down from heaven. When God wants to feed the hungry, you and I must feed the hungry. And now God wants peace in the world.
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There are two forms of justice. There is what is called retributive justice and there is restorative justice.
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If you are invisible, you are vulnerable. Birth Registration must be everyone's priority. Let's make all children visible and let's give every child a birthday!
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As human beings, even if we were to have tried to forget the past, if you dealt with it in a cavalier fashion, it would return to haunt you.
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I'm so, so thrilled that [Pope Francis] is there at this crucial moment in the history of our world.
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When a fire starts in one it just races through. And that is in a way unconscionable.
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Resentment and anger are bad for your blood pressure and your digestion.
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I believe history teaches us a categorical lesson: that once a people are determined to become free, then nothing in the world can stop them reaching their goal.
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Let girls be girls and not brides
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A life of wholeness does not depend on what we experience. Wholeness depends on how we experience our lives.
Desmond Tutu
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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.
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Instead of separation and division, all distinctions make for a rich diversity to be celebrated for the sake of the unity that underlies them. We are different so that we can know our need of one another.
Desmond Tutu
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Arrogance really comes from insecurity, and in the end our feeling that we are bigger than others is really the flip side of our feeling that we are smaller than others.
Desmond Tutu
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I'm absolutely, utterly, and completely certain that God wouldn't be homophobic. I'd much rather go to hell - I really would much rather go to hell - than go to a homophobic heaven.
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Dream of a world where children can laugh and play and not be blown up by a mine they thought was a toy.
Desmond Tutu