Born Saturday 29 July 1905, died Monday 18 September 1961
Occupation: Diplomat
Nationality: Swedish
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.
Time always seems long to the child who is waiting - for Christmas, for next summer, for becoming a grownup: long also when he surrenders his whole soul to each moment of a happy day.
To forgive oneself? No, that doesn't work: we have to be forgiven. But we can only believe this is possible if we ourselves can forgive.
The only kind of dignity which is genuine is that which is not diminished by the indifference of others.
It is easy to be nice, even to an enemy - from lack of character.
Only he deserves power who every day justifies it.
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.
Time goes by, reputation increases, ability declines.
Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.
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.
Praise those of your critics for whom nothing is up to standard.
Life yields only to the conqueror. Never accept what can be gained by giving in. You will be living off stolen goods, and your muscles will atrophy.
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.
The more we do, the more we can do; the more busy we are, the more leisure we have.
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.
The breaking wave and the muscle as it contracts obey the same law. Delicate line gathers the body's total strength in a bold balance. Shall my soul meet so severe a curve, journeying on its way to form?
I believe that we should die with decency so that at least decency will survive.
Those who invoke history will certainly be heard by history. And they will have to accept its verdict.
The Assembly has witnessed over the last weeks how historical truth is established; once an allegation has been repeated a few times, it is no longer an allegation, it is an established fact, even if no evidence has been brought out in order to support it.
