I am a leader by default, only because nature does not allow a vacuum.

— Desmond Tutu

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

— Desmond Tutu

If you are able to talk about your life and the joys and sorrows you have experienced, if you know your story, you are much more likely to be a skillful parent.

— Desmond Tutu

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

— Desmond Tutu

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.

— Desmond Tutu

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

— Desmond Tutu

If you want peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.

— Desmond Tutu

I'm actually very humbled listening to His Holiness,' the Archbishop said, 'because I've frequently mentioned to people the fact of his serenity and his calm and joyfulness. We would probably have said 'in spite of' the adversity, but it seems like he's saying 'because of' the adversity that this has evolved for him.

— Desmond Tutu

Inclusive, good-quality education is a foundation for dynamic and equitable societies.

— Desmond Tutu

In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights.

— Desmond Tutu