Desmond Tutu

"I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master."

"The God who matters is the One you actually worship by the way you treat other people, not the one you talk about."

"Without forgiveness, there is no future."

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together."

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness."

"There is no future without forgiveness."

"When the missionaries arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible. They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible."

"I have found that quiet time is what I need most - to really figure out what I believe and what I don't."

"To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self-interest. What this nation needs is not retribution but reconciliation."

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

"Goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate."

"The tricky thing about being human is that we are capable of the most extraordinary acts of love and the most terrible acts of violence."

"We are going to have to learn to live together in this world, or we will die together in it."

"I wish I could shut up, but I can't, and I won't."

"One of the things we learned when my wife got sick is that you navigate big problems the same way you navigate small problems. One step at a time."

"I have always been puzzled by the concept of original sin. If we are born in the image of God, shouldn't we be born in a state of grace?"

"Ubuntu speaks particularly about the interconnectedness of human beings. It says: 'I am human because I belong, I participate, I share.'"

"The world can change. It doesn't have to be like this. All of us can help change it."

"As a teacher, I discovered that I could inspire children to think for themselves - this was perhaps my greatest joy."

"I am the same person, whether I'm in the company of the rich and famous or in the company of the poorest of the poor."

"Being human is hard. That's why we need each other."

"People are not fixed, irrevocably shaped things. There's something called repentance, it's the ability you have to change, and you can change."

"I would not worship a God who is homophobic. I would not worship a God who is not inclusive."

"The greatest wealth is health."

"My message to you all is of hope and encouragement. But be sure that I do not ask you to have blind hope. Do I look like a fool?"

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

"True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the pain, the degradation, the truth of what happened. You cannot skip over that."

"Sometimes I go to bed thinking I've wasted my talents. Then I remember all the wonderful people I've met and the good times we've had together."

"We are made for goodness. We are made for love. We are made for friendliness. We are made for togetherness. We are made for all of these beautiful things that you and I know."