The Royal Mountain

"This is a freedom in the midst of action, a stillness, in the midst of other human beings. The mystery is a constant reality to him who, in this world, is free from self-concern, a reality that grows peaceful and mature before the receptive attention of assent. In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action." -Dag Hammarkjold

"All first-hand experience is valuable, and he who has given up looking for it will one day find that he lacks what he needs: a closed mind is a weakness, and he who approaches persons, or painting, or poetry without the youthful ambition to learn a new language and so gain access to someone else's perspective on life, let him beware." -Dag Hammarskjold

"Why were the Greeks the true, original athletes? Because the Greeks were the inventors of the golden mean. They did not neglect the body for the mind. In our age we have neglected the body for the machine. What we have to do is rediscover the body, stop poisoning it with false stimulants, stop filling it with noxious substances, stop treating it only as a means of self-indulgent pleasure. A plant needs water, and a body needs exercise. If you do not exercise a body, it corrupts, and the mind corrupts with it. Look at the politicians and the scholars and the businessmen. Look at the people who rule our world and tell us what to do. What a travesty of logic! These people have no bodies, only heads. And many athletes have no heads, only bodies. A champion is a man who has trained his body and his mind,  who has learned to conquer pain and to use pain for his own purposes. A great athlete is at peace with himself and at peace with the world; he has fulfilled himself."