Quotes by Elie Wiesel

Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other.

In the face of suffering, one has no right to turn away, not to see.

Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Be careful with words, they're dangerous. Be wary of them. They begat either demons or angels. It's up to you to give life to one or the other. Be careful, I tell you, nothing is as dangerous as giving free rein to words

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.

The opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. Indifference creates evil. Hatred is evil itself. Indifference is what allows evil to be strong, what gives it power.

People become the stories they hear and the stories they tell.

Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Whenever men or women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe.

In the face of suffering, one has no right to turn away, not to see. In the face of injustice, one may not look the other way. When someone suffers, and it is not you, that person comes first. One's very suffering gives one priority. . . . To watch over one who grieves is a more urgent duty than to think of God.

In order to fly, you have to give up the ground you are standing on.

The philosophers are wrong: it is not words that kill, it is silence.

I learned to trust the threats of enemies before the promises of friends.

For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. Not only are we responsible for the memories of the dead, we are responsible for what we do with those memories

I still believe in man in spite of man. I believe in language even though it has been wounded, deformed, and perverted by the enemies of mankind. And I continue to cling to words because it is up to us to transform them into instruments of comprehension rather than contempt. It is up to us to choose whether we wish to use them to curse or to heal, to wound or to console.

Even in darkness it is possible to create light.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.

One person of integrity can make a difference.

I believe that all the survivors are mad. One time or another their madness will explode. You cannot absorb that much madness and not be influenced by it. That is why the children of survivors are so tragic. I see them in school. They don't know how

To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.

Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

We are all teachers, or should be. Anyone who relays experience to another person is a teacher. Not to transmit your experience is to betray it.