QuoteProject
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.
Dag Hammarskjold
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes that the path we follow in life often guides us rather than the other way around.

Dag Hammarskjold suggests that instead of actively searching for our purpose or direction in life, it is actually the purpose that finds us. We must remain open and prepared to embrace opportunities as they arise, demonstrating our faithfulness to this path even during times of waiting.

Themes

PathPurposePreparednessFaithfulnessOpportunity

In practice

Example use cases

In a motivational speech to emphasize the importance of being open to life's opportunities.

More from Dag Hammarskjold

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
Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.
Dag HammarskjoldRead
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.
Dag HammarskjoldRead
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.
Dag HammarskjoldRead
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.
Dag HammarskjoldRead
Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.
Dag HammarskjoldRead

Similar quotes

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
Thomas JeffersonRead
Or why it is acceptable to train fast runners and high jumpers but not to breed them. I can think of some answers, and they are good ones, which would probably end up persuading me. But hasn't the time come when we should stop being frightened even to put the question?
Richard DawkinsRead
The minute you understand racism, you're responsible for being racist. It's like eating from the tree of knowledge.
Lynda BarryRead
...In little more than a single century from 1820 to 19450, no less than fifty-nine million human animals were killed in inter-group clashes of one sort or another.... We describe these killings as men behaving "like animals," but if we could find a wild animal that showed signs of acting this way, it would be more precise to describe it as behaving like men.
Desmond MorrisRead
People who understand everything get no stories.
Bertolt BrechtRead
I thought you were sane," I said, "but you're just as crazy as the rest of them.
Charles BukowskiRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Dag Hammarskjold | QuoteProject