Dag Hammarskjold Quotes

Destiny is something not be to desired and not to be avoided. A mystery not contrary to reason, for it implies that the world, and the course of human history, have meaning.

We all have within us a center of stillness surrounded by silence.

On the bookshelf of life, God is a useful work of reference, always at hand but seldom consulted.

Only he deserves power who every day justifies it.

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.

Time goes by, reputation increases, ability declines.

Praise those of your critics for whom nothing is up to standard.

Do not seek death. Death will find you.

I never discuss discussions.

I have only my own burden to bear.

Humility is just as much the opposite of self-abasement as it is of self-exaltation.

Creative people have to be fed from the divine source.

In the presence of God, nothing stands between Him and us - we are forgiven. But we cannot feel His presence if anything is allowed to stand between ourselves and others.

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

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

The myths have always condemned those who 'looked back.' Condemned them, whatever the paradise may have been which they were leaving. Hence this shadow over each departure from your decision.

Those who invoke history will certainly be heard by history. And they will have to accept its verdict.

Set-backs in efforts to implement an ideal do not prove that the ideal is wrong...

The big, shoe-thumping fellow continues as a dark thunderhead to threaten all unrepentant non-Communists with hail and thunder.

The 'great' commitment is so much easier than the ordinary everyday one.

The longest journey is the journey inwards. Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started upon his quest for the source of his being.

Maturity - among other things, the unclouded happiness of the child at play, who takes it for granted that he is at one with his play-mates.

To reach perfection, we must all pass, one by one, through the death of self-effacement.

The devils enter uninvited when the house stands empty. For other kinds of guests, you have to first open the door.

The truth is so simple that it is regarded as a pretentious banality.

Isn't the fulfillment of our duty towards our neighbor an expression of deepest desire?

In a political context of the utmost significance, ["freedom from fear"] recognizes a human right which, in a broad sense, may be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights.

At some moment I did answer "Yes" to someone or something. And from that hour on I was certain that existence is meaningful.

Smiling, sincere, incorruptible - His body disciplined and limber. A man who had become what he could, And was what he was- Ready at any moment to gather everything Into one simple sacrifice.

The life of simplicity is simple, but it opens to us a book in which we never get beyond the first syllable.

This accidental meeting of possibilities calls itself I. I ask: what am I doing here? And, at once, this I becomes unreal.

Beneath the hush a whisper from long ago, promising peace of mind and a burden shared. No peace which is not peace for all, no rest until all has been fulfilled.

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 his right road.

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.

Time goes by: reputation increases ability declines.

There is a point at which everything becomes simple and there is no longer any question of choice because all you have staked will be lost if you look back. Life's point of no return.

Life only demands from you the strength you possess.

How Forgiveness Helps Us 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 again made clean.

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

Only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.

Life only demands from the strength you possess. Only one feat is possible - not to have run away.

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 muddied? You are the one who must grow up.

The present moment is significant not as the bridge between past and future but by reason of its contents which can fill our emptiness and become ours if we are capable of receiving them

Life only demands from you the strength that you possess. Only one feat is possible not to run away.