Your cravings as a human animal do not become a prayer just because it is God whom you ask to attend to them.
Dag HammarskjoldRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the fragility of truth in public discourse and how repetition can transform allegations into accepted facts.
Dag Hammarskjold elucidates the process through which perceptions of truth can be altered by mere repetition. He warns that repeated claims, even if unsubstantiated, can shift from being viewed as allegations to being accepted as facts in the eyes of the public, highlighting the power of narrative over empirical evidence in establishing historical truths.
Themes
TruthAllegationFactEvidenceRepetition
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about media influence on public perception during a panel on journalism ethics.
More from Dag Hammarskjold
All quotes →It is not we who seek the Way, but the Way which seeks us. That is why you are faithful to it, even while you stand waiting, so long as you are prepared, and act the moment you are confronted by its demands.
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Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.
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The world cannot live at peace without the United Nations. For this reason: it creates a reasonable guarantee that all this change in the world, these tremendous political and economic developments, can be channelized, kept orderly. The United Nations is a mold that keeps the hot metal from spilling over.
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In a dream I walked with God through the deep places of creation; past walls that receded and gates that opened through hall after hall of silence, darkness and refreshment--the dwelling place of souls acquainted with light and warmth--until, around me, was an infinity into which we all flowed together and lived anew, like the rings made by raindrops falling upon wide expanses of calm dark waters.
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He is one of those who has had the wilderness for a pillow, and called a star his brother. Alone. But loneliness can be a communion.
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