Interpreting Hammarskjöld's Political Wisdom

Hammarskjöld’s most compact statement of his working method—a classic lesson in relationship.

How to think clearly and act judiciously in difficult situations?

Neutrality may be moral, neutrality may be immoral, lack of neutrality may be moral, lack of neutrality may be immoral—it all depends on factors which are not strictly linked to the definition.

I regard myself as a little different from ordinary politicians, as I am the servant of seventy-six nations representing the most varied political philosophies and outlooks. This does not of course mean that I am completely neutral and have no point of view of my own.

Hammarskjöld admired an ancient Chinese text, The Unwobbling Pivot, in which political wisdom and metaphysics are fully—and beautifully—integrated.

One humane family can humanize a whole state; one courteous family can lift a whole state into courtesy; one grasping and perverse man can drive a nation to chaos.

The great learning takes root in clarifying the way wherein the intelligence increases through the process of looking straight into one’s own heart and acting on the results.

Ours is a work of reconciliation and realistic construction. This work must be based on respect for the laws by which human civilization has been built.

The investigative book by a British scholar with detective skills has put the question of his death back in the news, where it belongs.