Elie Wiesel was a world-renowned writer, teacher, and activist, and here are his most powerful quotes and sayings. He was born in 1928 in Romania and later moved to France. In 1944, he was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp with his family.
He witnessed first-hand the horrors of the Holocaust. After the war, he wrote about his experiences in Night, which became a bestseller. Wiesel was a powerful voice for peace and justice. He campaigned against racism, violence, and intolerance. In 1986, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Here are some of Elie Wiesel’s most memorable quotes:
Most Powerful Elie Wiesel Words
For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.
– Elie Wiesel
We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
– Elie Wiesel
Every single human being is a unique human being. And, therefore, it’s so criminal to do something to that human being, because he or she represents humanity.
– Elie Wiesel
Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
– Elie Wiesel
I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.
– Elie Wiesel
No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.
– Elie Wiesel
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
– Elie Wiesel
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
– Elie Wiesel
Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.
– Elie Wiesel
Just as man cannot live without dreams, he cannot live without hope. If dreams reflect the past, hope summons the future.
– Elie Wiesel
Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.
– Elie Wiesel
One person of integrity can make a difference.
– Elie Wiesel
To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.
– Elie Wiesel
I write to understand as much as to be understood.
– Elie Wiesel
See Also: Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes
Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.
– Elie Wiesel
What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander.
– Elie Wiesel
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
– Elie Wiesel
Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.
– Elie Wiesel
Even in darkness it is possible to create light.
– Elie Wiesel
No human being is illegal. That is a contradiction in terms. Human beings can be beautiful or more beautiful, they can be fat or skinny, they can be right or wrong, but illegal? How can a human being be illegal?
– Elie Wiesel
A destruction, an annihilation that only man can provoke, only man can prevent.
– Elie Wiesel
Read Also: Henry Ward Beecher Quotes & Sayings
For in my tradition, as a Jew, I believe that whatever we receive we must share.
– Elie Wiesel
I’ll tell you what: I believe mysticism is a very serious endeavor. One must be equipped for it.
– Elie Wiesel
People become the stories they hear and the stories they tell.
– Elie Wiesel
If the only prayer you say throughout your life is “Thank You,” then that will be enough.
– Elie Wiesel
For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.
– Elie Wiesel
I shall always remember that smile. From what world did it come from?
– Elie Wiesel
One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live.
– Elie Wiesel
When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.
– Elie Wiesel
I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.
– Elie Wiesel
Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write.
– Elie Wiesel
Read Also: Ana Maria Matute Quotes & Sayings
We must not see any person as an abstraction. Instead, we must see in every person a universe with its own secrets, with its own treasures, with its own sources of anguish, and with some measure of triumph.
– Elie Wiesel
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.
– Elie Wiesel
Terrorism must be outlawed by all civilized nations — not explained or rationalized, but fought and eradicated. Nothing can, nothing will justify the murder of innocent people and helpless children.
– Elie Wiesel
There is divine beauty in learning… To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you.
– Elie Wiesel
Conclusion
In conclusion, Elie Wiesel quotes show the deep understanding he has of human nature and the world. His words have the power to change lives and inspire people to be better. We can all learn from his wisdom and use it to make the world a better place.
