Markings

Maturity: Among other things, the unclouded happiness of the child at play who takes it for granted that he is at one with his playmates.

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

The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others.

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

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

The son of the Swedish prime minister during World War I, Hammarskjold studied law and economics at the universities of Uppsala and Stockholm. He quickly gained prominence in his own country as secretary and then chairman of the board of governors of the Bank of Sweden; he was undersecretary of the Swedish department of finance from 1936 to 1945. In 1946 he entered the foreign ministry as financial adviser and became chief Swedish delegate to the OEEC in 1948. In 1951 he was the vice chairman of the Swedish delegation to the United Nations, in 1952 he was chairman, and in 1953 he was elected Secretary-General and re-elected in 1957.

Widely read in literature and philosophy, Dag Hammarskjold translated the poetry of St.-John Perse into Swedish. He was made a member of the Swedish Academy in 1954.

From the Hardcover edition.