43 Inspiring Quotes On Tolerance

In a world where diversity and differences are more apparent than ever, nurturing a spirit of tolerance is essential for harmonious coexistence. Tolerance allows us to embrace and celebrate our differences, fostering an environment of understanding and peace. Words have the power to inspire and transform our perspectives, so we've gathered a selection of 43 inspiring quotes that encapsulate the essence of tolerance. These quotes come from a variety of voices, past and present, each offering unique insights into the power of acceptance and open-mindedness. Whether you’re seeking motivation to embrace differences or looking to inspire others, these quotes will illuminate the path to a more tolerant and compassionate world.

1. “Never judge someone By the way he looks Or a book by the way it's covered; For inside those tattered pages, There's a lot to be discovered” - Stephen Cosgrove

2. “I have good idea, for if you meet some person from different religion and he want to make argument about God. My idea is, you listen to everything this man say about God. Never argue about God with him. Best thing to say is, 'I agree with you.' Then you go home, pray what you want. This is my idea for people to have peace about religion.” - Elizabeth Gilbert

3. “As you walk, hop, hobble, or wheelMeeting people of different kinds, Remember that being handicappedIs only a state of mind” - Stephen Cosgrove

4. “As you walk through forestsor the meadows of your mind,Stop and talk to those you fearGood friendships you may find” - Stephen Cosgrove

5. “When Don Quixote went out into the world, that world turned into a mystery before his eyes. That is the legacy of the first European novel to the entire subsequent history of the novel. The novel teaches us to comprehend the world as a question. There is wisdom and tolerance in that attitude.” - Milan Kundera

6. “...what a surprise (we all know how tolerant the tolerant are)-...” - Junot Diaz

7. “In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.” - Dalai Lama XIV

8. “If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear.” - Gene Roddenberry

9. “In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair...the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.” - Dorothy L. Sayers

10. “Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged” - Jalal Ad-Din Rumi

11. “Ignorance and prejudice are the handmaidens of propaganda. Our mission, therefore, is to confront ignorance with knowledge, bigotry with tolerance, and isolation with the outstretched hand of generosity. Racism can, will, and must be defeated.” - Kofi Annan

12. “Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil.” - Thomas Mann

13. “Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.” - Joseph Campbell

14. “A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.” - Henry Wallace

15. “Nowadays, you can do anything that you want—anal, oral, fisting—but you need to be wearing gloves, condoms, protection.” - Slavoj Žižek

16. “In this world, unity is achievable only by learning to unite in spite of differences, rather than insisting on unity without differences. For their total eradication is an impossibility. The secret of attaining peace in life is tolerance of disturbance of the peace. (p. 99)” - Wahiduddin Khan

17. “Tolerance only for those who agree with you is no tolerance at all.” - Ray A. Davis

18. “True openness is the accompaniment of the desire to know, hence of the awareness of ignorance. To deny the possibility of knowing good and bad is to suppress true openness.” - Allan Bloom

19. “Error is indeed our enemy, but it alone points to the truth and therefore deserves our respectful treatment.” - Allan Bloom

20. “Islam teaches tolerance, not hatred; universal brotherhood, not enmity; peace, and not violence.” - Parwez Musharraf

21. “That's ridiculous. The only point in having enemies is so you can defeat them, kill them, brush them aside.""Or give them a chance to redeem themselves.” - Derek Landy

22. “You just sit there and tolerate it, the same way everything in this country is tolerated. Every deception, every lie, every bullet in the brains. Just as you are already tolerating bullets in the brains that will be implemented only after the bullet is put in your brains.” - Imre Kertesz

23. “I have always known that the best of the Saracens could out-Christian many of us Christians.” - Ellis Peters

24. “You can argue that it's a different world now than the one when Matthew Shepard was killed, but there is a subtle difference between tolerance and acceptance. It's the distance between moving into the cul-de-sac and having your next door neighbor trust you to keep an eye on her preschool daughter for a few minutes while she runs out to the post office. It's the chasm between being invited to a colleague's wedding with your same-sex partner and being able to slow-dance without the other guests whispering.” - Jodi Picoult

25. “For once I didn't look away immediately. I forced myself to meet her contemptuous gaze. I allowed myself be swept away by it, to drown in it - the way I'd done so many times before. The way I would willingly do again. Because at least she was here to hate me. At least I had that. I watched my daughter conjure up the filthiest look in her vast arsenal before she turned away with complete disdain. I didn't mind that so much. It meant I could watch her, drink her in without her protest. Look at our daughter, Callum. Isn't she beautiful, so very beautiful? She laughs like me, but when she smiles... Oh Callum, when she smiles, it's picnics in Celebration Park and sunsets on our beach and our very first kiss all over again. When Callie Rose smiles at me, she lights up my life.When Callie Rose smiles at me.” - Malorie Blackman

26. “If people but knew their own religion, how tolerant they would become, and how free from any grudge against the religion of others.” - Hazrat Inayat Khan

27. “Tolerância universal é indiferença. Quem tolera tudo, é porque não se importa com nada'.” - Rubem Alves

28. “If I do not believe as you believe, it proves that you do not believe as I believe, and that is all that it proves.” - Thomas Paine

29. “An outrageous instinct to love and be loved blinded your arms to lines of propriety––Women and Men, Christians and Jews, Muslims and Buddhists, white, black, red, brown. An outrageous instinct to love and be loved executed your brain every hour on the hour.” - Aberjhani

30. “Ich wünsche mir, dass sich unsere Gesellschaft tolerant, wertbewusst und vor allen Dingen in Liebe zur Freiheit entwickelt und nicht vergisst, dass die Freiheit der Erwachsenen Verantwortung heißt.” - Joachim Gauck

31. “Tolerance is the price we pay for living in a free, pluralistic society.” - Robert Casey

32. “Razmišljam i ja ponekad o svom poreklu, naravno, ali pritom ne vidim bogomolje, simbole, ni šarene pantljike folklora kojima se kite konji Pripadnosti... (...) Razmišljam i ja ponekad o svom poreklu, naravno, ali naše Porodično Stablo vidim samo kao mladicu na obodu Velike Šume...Zamrznem tako likove na tajnoj večeri u bezimenoj podkarpatskoj gostionici, Sluge i Gospodare, Silne i Prepadnute, Lukave, Priglupe, Sretne...I mislim: koji je moj? Čiji sam ja to? Na talasima čije krvi penušaju mehurići moje embrionske duše, i u čijim se venama, a da grešan ni ne sluti, koprcaju kao punoglavci moja čula i tkiva, moj fosforni skelet, i usplahireno jato mladeža?Ali ne brinem puno o tome da li je Taj bio Srbin, Tatarin, Kozak?Ni da li se krstio, klanjao, pisao s leva na desno?Ne...Brinem jedino da nije bio podlac?Palikuća?Bratoubica?Ili je neko ko je sekao srce na kriške, da bude za sve...Neko kog su uvek pitali kad o čemu treba presuditi...I neko kome se i Bog obradovao kao dragom rođaku...Kada mu je umoran zakucao na Nebo...” - Đorđe Balašević

33. “If a couple of gay guys want to throw the gayest, most fabulous wedding of all time, the only way it should offend you is if you weren’t invited.” - Orlando Winters

34. “..each bloodletting hastens the next, and as the value of human life is degraded and violence becomes tolerated, the unimaginable becomes more conceivable.” - Bill Clinton

35. “Don't fret, boy. I'm not so foolish as to ridicule the myths and legends of other people. For countless generations, people, no matter where they're from, have been trying to understand this world of ours.” - Nahoko Uehashi

36. “the underlying struggle - between worlds of plenty and worlds of want; between the modern and the ancient; between those who embrace our teeming, colliding, irksome diversity, while still insisting on a set of values that binds us together, and those who would seek, under whatever flag or slogan or sacred text, a certainty and simplification that justifies cruelty toward those not like us...” - Barack Obama

37. “People fail each other all the time, Mo, and they forgive each other, and start again. It's a question of knowing the other person's limitations. Knowing what's fair to expect of them. Knowing what's fair for them to expect of you.” - Erica O'Rourke

38. “Tolerance isn't about not having beliefs. It's about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.” - Timothy Keller

39. “Never complain about what you permit to be.” - Orrin Woodward

40. “For tolerance (and you must remember this when you grow older), is of very recent origin and even the people of our own so-called "modern world" are apt to be tolerant only upon such matters as do not interest them very much.” - Hendrik Willem Van Loon

41. “Tolerance is not a Christian value. Charity, justice, mercy, prudence, honesty--these are Christian values.” - Archbishop Charles J. Chaput

42. “When we look back, it becomes clear that the acts and accomplishments of human beings are the signatures of history. Human signatures have created an enormous chasm between the joyeous light of the age of the Renaissance to the dark shadow of September 11, 2001. Those of us living on that fateful day experienced the lower depths of mankind. As an author, avid reader, world traveler, and person of enormous curiosity, my life experiences have taught me that discord often erupts from a lack of knowledge and education. To discourage future dark moments, I believe we must nourish the minds of our young with learning that creates understanding between ethnic and religious groups. Perhaps understanding will lead to a marvelous day when we take a last fleeting look at violence so harmful to so many. I sincerely believe that nothing will further the cause of peace more than the education of our young. I would like for readers to know that a percentage of the profits from the sale of this book will be devoted to the cause of education.May all roads lead to peace.” - Jean Sasson

43. “Ty swung around. He was obviously fed up with Ben's negative attitude.” - Lauren Brooke