59 quotes
You and I are created for transcendence, laughter, caring. God deliberately did not make the world perfect, for God is looking for you and me to be fellow workers with God.
Wallenberg Lecture (2008)
Whether Jews like it or not, they are a peculiar people. They can't ever hope to be judged by the same standards which are used for other people.
[T]here is always the possibility of change. If it happened in South Africa, why can't it happen anywhere?
What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence.
Speech in Boston (2002)
He has a childlike, boyish, impish, mischievousness. And I have to try and make him behave properly, like a holy man!
Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.
The Words of Desmond Tutu (1984)
Injustice and oppression will never prevail.
Speech in Boston (2002)
Without us, God has no eyes, without us, God has no ears; without us, God has no arms or hands. God relies on us. Won't you join other people of faith in becoming God's partners in the world?
God Is Not a Christian: And Other Provocations (2011)
Israel will never get true security and safety through oppressing another people. A true peace can ultimately be built only on justice.
Speech in Boston (2002)
Millions of South Africans live in grueling, demeaning, dehumanizing poverty, while black empowerment seems to benefit not the vast majority but an elite that tends to be recycled.
We refuse to be treated as the doormat for the government to wipe its jackboots on.
I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.
Speech in Boston (2002)
Sometimes you want to whisper in God's ear, "God, we know you are in charge, but why don't you make it slightly more obvious?"
Wallenberg Lecture (2008)
We who advocate peace are becoming an irrelevance when we speak peace. The government speaks rubber bullets, live bullets, tear gas, police dogs, detention, and death.
For goodness sake, will they hear, will white people hear what we are trying to say? Please, all we are asking you to do is to recognize that we are humans, too.
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
Unexpected News : Reading the Bible with Third World Eyes (1984)
When people say that the Bible and politics don't mix, I ask them which Bible they are reading.
We may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.
When a pile of cups is tottering on the edge of the table and you warn that they will crash to the ground, in South Africa you are blamed when that happens.
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.