Quotes by Dag Hammarskjöld

Dag Hammarskjöld was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations. Hammarskjöld was the youngest person to have held the post, at an age of 47 years upon his appointment. His second term was cut short when he was killed in an airplane crash while en route to cease-fire negotiations during the Congo Crisis. He is one of only four people to be awarded a posthumous Nobel Prize.

Hammarskjöld has been referred to as one of the two best secretaries-general of the United Nations, and his appointment has been mentioned as the most notable success for the UN. United States President John F. Kennedy called Hammarskjöld "the greatest statesman of our century."

Quotes:

Never, for the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience or convictions.

You wake from dreams of doom and--for a moment--you know: beyond all the noise and the gestures, the only real thing, love's calm unwavering flame in the half-light of an early dawn.

For all that has been, Thank you. For all that is to come, Yes!

Friendship needs no words - it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness.

Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who 'forgives' you--out of love--takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice. The price you must pay for your own liberation through another's sacrifice is that you in turn must be willing to liberate in the same way, irrespective of the consequences to yourself.

Forgiveness is the answer to the child’s dream of a miracle by which what is broken is made whole again, what is soiled is made clean again.

The longest journey is the journey inward.

Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.

Life only demands from you the strength you possess.

He who wants to keep his garden tidy does not reserve a plot for weeds.

It is when we all play safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity.

Is life so wretched? Isn't it rather your hands which are too small, your vision which is muddled? You are the one who must grow up.

Never measure the height of a mountain, until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.

God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason.

Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.

Like wind-- In it, with it, of it. Of it just like a sail, so light and strong that, even when it is bent flat, it gathers all the power of the wind without hampering its course. Like light-- In light, lit through by light, transformed into light. Like the lens which disappears in the light it focuses. Like wind. Like light.

The more faithfully you listen to the voices within you, the better you will hear what is sounding outside.

No peace which is not peace for all, no rest until all has been fulfilled.

I am the vessel. The draft is God's. And God is the thirsty one.