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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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Justice

More quotes by Desmond Tutu

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.

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

I give great thanks to God that he has created a Dalai Lama.

I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period.

Freedom and liberty lose out by default because good people are not vigilant.

Hope and Suffering: Sermons and Speeches (1984)

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Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

Francis Bacon Meditationes sacræ (1597)

If the church ... does not make God's liberation of the oppressed central in its mission and proclamation, how can it rest easy with a condemned criminal as the dominant symbol of its message?

James H. Cone Speaking the Truth: Ecumenism, Liberation, and Black Theology (1986)

It is better for a leader to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing.

Muhammad

It is the law of life that if you are kind to someone you feel happy. If you are cruel you are unhappy. And if you hurt someone, you will be hurt back.

Cary Grant Love – That’s All Cary Grant Ever Thinks About (1964)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Desmond Tutu (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.