Fredrik Bajer Quotes
By a great man, however, we mean a man who, because of his spiritual gifts, his character, and other qualities, deserves to be called great and who as a result earns the power to influence others.
A sign that a peace association is going adrift is its exclusion of other political parties, with whom it could collaborate effectively on most of the problems besetting the cause of peace.
Pacifists should stress more and more that it is the rule of law for which they are fighting.
Warfare has been marvelously developed. It will soon be impossible to raise it to further heights.
But I feel convinced, and I venture even to prophesy in this regard, that the time will come when there will also be a minister of peace in the cabinet, seated beside the ministers of war.
There are in most states one or two ministers of war, one of whom is the minister of naval affairs.
Always we must bear in mind that law has to be substituted for power, that care must be taken to serve the interests of law.
Today's date, the eighteenth of May, should sometime become an occasion of great international celebration, for on this day ten years ago the first Peace Conference opened at The Hague.
Naturally, business and pleasure can be readily combined, but a certain balance should exist, and the latter should not predominate over the former.
As a result of my study, I came to the conclusion that a common supreme authority was undesirable.
There is one criticism which cannot be leveled at interparliamentary conferences but which is applicable to a great extent to peace congresses: the meetings waste time.
There are those who believe we have need of more literature, of a large international publishing house, of a great peace newspaper, or the like. I am rather skeptical about this idea.
The last Hague Conference has in the meantime expressed its opinion that a body should be established which could prepare for the work involved more effectively than has hitherto proved possible.
The interparliamentary conference should, in my opinion, direct its particular attention to the preparation of the next Hague Conference, the diplomatic conference, the conference of governments.
We have long possessed the art of war and the science of war, which have been evolved in the minutest detail.
Indeed, whenever a new idea is developed, as for example ballooning, warfare immediately takes possession.
Propaganda is a topic of particular concern to peace associations. This is a matter of educating the population in general, and not least the voters.
I would rather propose a bureau somewhat similar to that which we have in the Universal Postal Union.
An advantage that the Hague Conferences lack, in contrast to the peace associations and the Interparliamentary Union, is a bureau.
Peace congresses often start by dealing with some of the less important questions in excessive detail, so at the end there is no time to discuss the most important problems.
Indeed; peace literature is almost exclusively read, though to good effect, by pacifists, while what is needed is the canvassing of those who have not so far been won to the cause.
