Dag Hammarskjöld Quotes

Swedish diplomat, economist, and author (1905-1961)

Dag Hammarskjöld (29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish diplomat, the second United Nations Secretary-General, and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He oversaw U.N. responses to Cold War crises, the decolonization of Africa, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He was killed in a plane crash while attempting to mediate the Congo Crisis.

From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alternative Names: Da gHjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld • Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld

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This accidental
Meeting of possibilities
Calls itself I.

To the past: Thanks.
To the future: Yes.

In the point of rest at the center of our being, we encounter a world where all things are at rest in the same way.

Thou takest the pen–and the lines dance. Thou takest the flute–and the notes shimmer. Thou takest the brush–and the colors sing. So all things have meaning and beauty in that space beyond time where Thou art. How, then, can I hold back anything from Thee.

He who wants to keep his garden tidy doesn’t reserve a plot for weeds.

The pursuit of peace and progress cannot end in a few years in either victory or defeat. The pursuit of peace and progress, with its trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can never be relaxed and never abandoned.

You have not done enough, you have never done enough, so long as it is still possible that you have something to contribute.

Att aldrig låta framgången dölja sin tomhet, insatsen sin intighet, arbetslivet sin ödslighet, och så att bevara sporren att nå vidare – den smärta i själen som driver oss själva. Se dig inte om. Och dröm ej om framtiden: den skall ej återskänka dig det förgångna eller tillfredsställa andra lyckodrömmar. Din plikt och din belöning – ditt öde – är HÄR och NU.

Perhaps a great love is never returned.

The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell.

Our secret creative will divines its counterpart in others, experiencing its own universality, and this intuition builds a road towards knowledge of the power which is itself a spark within us.

Mitte kunagi lubada edul varjata enda tühisust, panusel enda tähtsusetust, tööelul oma kõledust, et säiliks edasipürgimise ajend - see hingevalu, mis meid tagant kihutab. Ära vaata tagasi. Ära unista tulevikust: ta ei tagasta sulle möödanikku ega rahulda teisi õnneunelmaid. Sinu kohustus ja su tasu - su saatus - on SIIN ja PRAEGU.

We are not permitted to choose the frame of our destiny, but what we fit into it is ours.

It is easy to be nice, even to an enemy — from lack of character.

Your body must become familiar with its death — in all its possible forms and degrees — as a self-evident, imminent, and emotionally neutral step on the way towards the goal you have found worthy of your life.