‘Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument’ — famous quotes of Desmond Tutu

December 26, 2021 12:05 pm

When you hear Desmond Tutu, what comes to your mind? Anti-apartheid warrior, of course. Tutu, one of the leaders of the anti-apartheid movement, played a vital role in the fight — non-violent — against white minority rule in South Africa.

On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa announced the death of Tutu at the age of 90.

Apart from his apartheid role, Tutu was also a man of letters.

Here, TheCable curates some famous quotes made by the anti-apartheid hero.

“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument” — an address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 November 2004.

“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.” — an excerpt published in an article in The New York Times on January 3, 1985.

“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” — a comment made on January 1985

“Be nice to the whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity” — October 1984.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Head of Hight-Level Fact-Finding Mission speaks during press conference at the Human Rights Council at the ninth session.

“Perpetrators don’t have horns, don’t have tails, they are as ordinary-looking as you and I. The people who supported Hitler were not demons, they were often very respectable people” — February 2006.

“Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.”

“We are each made for goodness, love and compassion. Our lives are transformed as much as the world is when we live with these truths.”

“There is no peace in South Africa. There is no peace because there is no justice… When there is injustice, invariably, peace becomes a casualty.”

“Be nice to whites, they need you to rediscover their humanity” — comment published on New York Times, October 19, 1984.

“Our maturity will be judged by how well we are able to agree to disagree and yet continue to love one another, to care for one another and cherish one another and seek the greater good of the other” — an excerpt from God Has a Dream, a book written by Desmond Tutu.