And one day, this thing ...

And one day, this thing happened to me: I coughed, and the blood just came gushing out of my mouth. ... I still can\'t believe that that happened to me, but I sat there, and I said to God, \'Well, if it means I\'m going to die, that\'s OK.\' I don\'t think I\'ve ever felt that same kind of peace, the kind of serenity that I felt after acknowledging that maybe I was going to die of this TB.
And one day, this thing happened to me: I coughed, and the blood just came gushing out of my mouth. ... I still can't believe that that happened to me, but I sat there, and I said to God, 'Well, if it means I'm going to die, that's OK.' I don't think I've ever felt that same kind of peace, the kind of serenity that I felt after acknowledging that maybe I was going to die of this TB.
 Desmond Tutu

Quotes from the same author

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.
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 Desmond Tutu
We must not allow ourselves to become like the system we oppose.
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 Desmond Tutu
When a chap is in love, he will go out in all kinds of weather to keep an appointment with his beloved. Love can be demanding, in fact more demanding than law. It has its own imperatives - think of a mother sitting by the bedside of a sick child through the night, impelled only by love. Nothing is too much trouble for love.
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 Desmond Tutu
I pray that politicians, lawmakers and religious leaders have the courage to support the choices terminally ill citizens make in departing Mother Earth with dignity and love.
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 Desmond Tutu
Most people would say "Ah, Mahatma Gandhi, what a wonderful man, Mother Teresa, maybe Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama." And when you look at those people it's not the macho, aggressive, successful people, we may envy them, their bank balances and kind of thing, yes and for being successful. But we do not revere them.
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 Desmond Tutu