Frasi di Desmond Tutu

„Non c'è niente di più difficile che svegliare qualcuno che sta solo fingendo di essere addormentato.“

—  Desmond Tutu

Origine: Citato in Will Tuttle, Cibo per la pace, traduzione di Marta Mariotto, Sonda, Casale Monferrato, 2014, p. 145. ISBN 978-88-7106-742-1

„Quando i missionari vennero in Africa loro avevano la Bibbia e noi avevamo la terra. Dissero: "Preghiamo". Chiudemmo i nostri occhi. Quando li riaprimmo, noi avevamo la Bibbia e loro avevano la terra.“

—  Desmond Tutu

Attribuite

„Sappiamo che non esistono differenze naturali tra buddisti e musulmani. Non importa se siamo ebrei o indù, cristiani o atei: siamo nati per amare senza pregiudizi. La discriminazione non è una cosa naturale; viene insegnata. Mia cara sorella: se il prezzo politico della tua ascesa alla più alta carica del Myanmar è il tuo silenzio, allora quel prezzo è troppo alto.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„Mentre assistiamo all’evolversi dell’orrore preghiamo che tu possa essere di nuovo coraggiosa e resiliente. Preghiamo perché tu faccia sentire la tua voce per la giustizia, i diritti umani e l’unità del tuo popolo. Preghiamo perché tu intervenga in questa crisi crescente e riporti il tuo popolo sulla retta via. Che Dio ti benedica.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„Lasceremo i bambini africani e asiatici morire di malattie curabili, impediremo loro di andare a scuola e ne limiteremo le opportunità di lavoro, solo per ripagare prestiti ingiusti e illegittimi fatti ai loro progenitori?“

—  Desmond Tutu

Origine: Citato in AA.VV., Il libro dell'economia, traduzione di Olga Amagliani e Martina Dominici, Gribaudo, 2018, p. 315. ISBN 9788858014158

„Our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another, and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity.“

—  Desmond Tutu

As quoted in New York Times (19 October 1984)

„There is nothing more difficult than waking someone who is only pretending to be asleep.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„This family has no outsiders. Everyone is an insider.“

—  Desmond Tutu

"And God Smiles," sermon preached at All Saints Church, Pasadena, California (6 November 2005)
Contesto: This family has no outsiders. Everyone is an insider. When Jesus said, "I, if I am lifted up, will draw..." Did he say, "I will draw some"? "I will draw some, and tough luck for the others"? He said, "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all." All! All! All! – Black, white, yellow; rich, poor; clever, not so clever; beautiful, not so beautiful. All! All! It is radical. All! Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Bush – all! All! All are to be held in this incredible embrace. Gay, lesbian, so-called "straight;" all! All! All are to be held in the incredible embrace of the love that won’t let us go.

„God is not a diversion.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„A person is a person because he recognizes others as persons.“

—  Desmond Tutu

Address at his enthronement as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town (7 September 1986)

„Though wrong gratifies in the moment, good yields its gifts over a lifetime.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„We learn from history that we don't learn from history!“

—  Desmond Tutu

Often attributed to Desmond Tutu, actual source is G. W. F Hegel: What experience and history teach is this — that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it. Lectures on the Philosophy of History (1832)
Misattributed

„Do a little bit of good wherever you are; its those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world“

—  Desmond Tutu

Variante: Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.

„If you want to keep people subjugated, the last thing you place in their hands is a Bible. There's nothing more radical, nothing more revolutionary, nothing more subversive against injustice and oppression than the Bible.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„Out of the cacophony of random suffering and chaos that can mark human life, the life artist sees or creates a symphony of meaning and order. A life of wholeness does not depend on what we experience. Wholeness depends on how we experience our lives.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„A person is a person through other persons; you can't be human in isolation; you are human only in relationships.“

—  Desmond Tutu

„We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.“

—  Desmond Tutu