Quotes By Desmond Tutu

In the land of my birth I cannot vote, whereas a young person of eighteen can vote. And why? Because he or she possesses that wonderful biological attribute - a white skin.

Oh, 1994, April 27. There won't be a day like that ever again. I mean, the sky was blue, with a blueness that had never been there before.

All the United States, it is a society that is split like to the bottom, that had very poor people in the country that is one of the wealthiest countries.

In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom and just peace without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime.

Europe became rich because it exploited Africa; and the Africans know that.

The universe can take quite a while to deliver.

People often speak of God being even-handed. God is not even-handed. God is biased, in favor of the weak, of the despised.

Before Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962, he was an angry, relatively young man. He founded the ANC's military wing. When he was released, he surprised everyone because he was talking about reconciliation and forgiveness and not about revenge.

I think that most of us would prefer to be popular than unpopular.

When we see the face of a child, we think of the future. We think of their dreams about what they might become, and what they might accomplish.

It's a blessing that South Africa has a man like Nelson Mandela.

Racism, xenophobia and unfair discrimination have spawned slavery, when human beings have bought and sold and owned and branded fellow human beings as if they were so many beasts of burden.