Desmond Tutu Quotes

Hey, I'm a human being also.

Aren't we all human? Don't we all deserve to be respected and treated equally?

The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.

Well, I think when we can turn to the person sitting next to us and really see them with kindness and see ourselves reflected back - when there's some dignity and compassion traveling back and forth.

To live in mankind is far more than to live in a name.

What's important is to be able to see yourself, I think, as having commonality with other people and not determine, because of your good luck, that everybody is less significant, less interesting, less important than you are.

Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.

We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb Onye ji onye n'ani ji onwe ya: 'He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.'

I love the idea that 'a person is a person no matter how small'.

There are some persons we could not cut down to size without diminishing ourselves as well.

No one can be authentically human while he prevents others from being so.

Clem (Clementa Pinckney) understood that justice grows out of recognition of ourselves, in each other.

One cannot deny the humanity of another without diminishing one's own.

We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own.

We've got to decide that we want to live in a world that is sane and happy and healthy, and that everyone deserves that.

Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.

When I understand myself, I understand you, and out of that understanding comes love.

The demand for equal rights in every vocation of life is just and fair; but, after all, the most vital right is the right to love and be loved.

To realize that new world we must prefer the values of freedom and equality above all other values - above personal wealth, technical power and nationalism.

And each of us can practice rights ourselves, treating each other without discrimination, respecting each other's dignity and rights.

We will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.

What makes a fulfilling relationship or fulfilling life is not simply found in another. It's found in a group of others.

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

After this whole acting thing is over and done, you eventually have to be human. Some people are never human. It's very weird.

I think everyone deserves dignity.