The simple and unpretentious 81-year-old Professor René Cassin broke into a delighted smile and replied "Already?" when told of his award on 9 October 1968. At his eighteenth-century flat overlooking the Seine on the Ile St. Louis in Paris, he continued: "I am very happy. It is not given to every man to have the luck to learn law, to teach it, to make it as a judge and promote it internationally as an international judge", but added "I would be happier if there were a little more justice in the world".