U Thant famous quotes

05-14-2025

The war we have to wage today has only one goal and that is to make the world safe for diversity.
-- U Thant

#War #Diversity #Goal
Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves.
-- U Thant

#Respect #Human Rights #Humans
As we watch the sun go down, evening after evening, through the smog across the poisoned waters of our native earth, we must ask ourselves seriously whether we really wish some future universal historian on another planet to say about us: "With all their genius and with all their skill, they ran out of foresight and air and food and water and ideas," or, They went on playing politics until their world collapsed around them.
-- U Thant

#Air #Skills #Ideas
Respect for the truth comes close to being the basis for all morality.
-- U Thant

#Respect #Morality #Bases
Wars begin in the minds of men, and in those minds, love andcompassion would have built the defenses of peace.
-- U Thant

#Life #War #Men
The law of love and compassion for all living creatures is again a doctrine to which we are all too ready to pay slip service. However, if it is to become a reality, it requires a process of education, a veritable mental renaissance. Once it has become a reality, national as well as international problems will fall into perspectives and become easier to solve. Wars and conflicts, too, will then become a thing of the past, because wars begin in the minds of men, and in those minds love and compassion would have built the defenses of peace.
-- U Thant

#War #Fall #Past
In modern war there is no such thing as victor and vanquished... There is only a loser, and the loser is mankind.
-- U Thant

#War #Loser #Modern
Governments, systems, ideologies come and go, but it is humanity which remains.
-- U Thant

#Government #Humanity #Ideology
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - This great and inspiring instrument was born of an increased sense of responsibility by the international community for the promotion and protection of man's basic rights and freedoms. The world has come to a clear realization of the fact that freedom, justice and world peace can only be assured through the international promotion and protection of these rights and freedoms.
-- U Thant

#Responsibility #Men #Rights
World federalists hold before us the vision of a unified mankind living in peace under a just world order... The heart of their program-a world under law- is realistic and attainable.
-- U Thant

#Heart #Order #Law
The world will not Change and find peace if there is not a new education.
-- U Thant

#World #Finding Peace
To understand my feelings â€” and my conception of the role of Secretary General â€” the nature of my religious and cultural background must first be understood. I should therefore like to outline not only my beliefs but also my conception of human institutions and of the human situation itself.
-- U Thant

#Religious #Feelings #Roles
As a Buddhist, I was trained to be tolerant of everything except intolerance. I was brought up not only to develop the spirit of tolerance but also to cherish moral and spiritual qualities such as modesty, humility, compassion, and, most important, to attain a certain degree of emotional equilibrium.
-- U Thant

#Spiritual #Buddhist #Humility
The concept of peaceful coexistence has been criticized by many who do not see the need to make the world safe for diversity. I wonder if they have ever paused to ask themselves the question: What is the alternative to coexistence?
-- U Thant

#Diversity #Peaceful #Needs
I am afraid if the present trend in Vietnam continues that direct confrontation, first of all between Washington and Peking, is inevitable.
-- U Thant

#Trends #Firsts #Vietnam
As a Buddhist, I was trained to be tolerant of everything except intolerance
-- U Thant

#Buddhist #Intolerance

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