Hjalmar Branting Quotes & Sayings

“Fraternity among nations, however, touches the deepest desire of human nature.”

“We must remember that the people for whom this change represents a first taste of freedom and a new and brighter future did not allow their resolution to falter, no matter how great the suffering by which they bought this independence.”

“The World War broke out with such elemental violence, and with such resort to all means for leading or misleading public opinion, that no time was available for reflection and consideration.”

“No nation is so great as to be able to afford, in the long run, to remain outside an increasingly universal League of Nations.”

“Before the war there were many who were more or less ignorant of the international labor movement but who nevertheless turned to it for salvation when the threat of war arose. They hoped that the workers would never permit a war.”

“Let us return, however, to the League of Nations. To create an organization which is in a position to protect peace in this world of conflicting interests and egotistic wills is a frighteningly difficult task.”

“But it is possible that, in the days ahead, these years we have lived through may eventually be thought of simply as a period of disturbance and regression.”

“And the annual meetings of the League's Assembly are in effect official peace congresses binding on the participating states to an extent that most statesmen a quarter of a century ago would have regarded as utopian.”

“It is a commonplace that the League of Nations is not yet-what its most enthusiastic protagonists intended it to be.”

“I do not overlook the fact that the appearance of these new, free nations in the European political community not only celebrates the return of the prodigal son but also creates new sources of friction here and there.”