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Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.

Elie Wiesel

I write to understand as much as to be understood.
ELIE WIESEL

Feeling Myself Understand Writing
I was there when God was put on trial. At the end of the trial, they used the word chayav, rather than ‘guilty’. It means ‘He owes us something’. Then we went to pray.
ELIE WIESEL

Death End God Guilty Himself Prayer Trial
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
ELIE WIESEL

Angel Care Dangerous Demon Myself Word
Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.
ELIE WIESEL

Human Man Suffering Woman
This is the role of writers: to turn their tears into a story – and perhaps into a prayer.
ELIE WIESEL

Pain Prayer Role Tears Writing
I marvel at the resilience of the Jewish people. Their best characteristic is their desire to remember. No other people has such an obsession with memory.
ELIE WIESEL

Memories Myself Obsession People Remember Resilience
In the beginning there was faith – which is childish; trust – which is vain; and illusion – which is dangerous.
ELIE WIESEL

Beginning Children Dangerous Faith Illusion Trust
Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.
ELIE WIESEL

Despair Myself Rejection Remember Responsibility
Every Jew, somewhere in his being, should set apart a zone of hate – healthy virile hate – for what the German personifies and for what persists in the German.
ELIE WIESEL

Hate Health Persistence Religious
Emphasis must be put on learning: there is no substitute to education. It can be briefly formulated in a few words: always, whatever you do in life, think higher and feel deeper.
ELIE WIESEL

Education Learning Substitute Word
To forget a Holocaust is to kill twice.
ELIE WIESEL

Death Forget Kill
A religious person answers to God, not to the elected or non-elected official.
ELIE WIESEL

Election God Official Person Religious
Whoever survives a test, whatever it may be, must tell the story. That is his duty.
ELIE WIESEL

Himself Story Survive
We must choose between the violence of adults and the smiles of children. Between the ugliness of hate and the will to oppose it. Between inflicting suffering and humiliation on our fellow man and offering him the solidarity and hope he deserves.
ELIE WIESEL

Adult Choice Deserve Hope Ourselves Suffering Ugly Violence
The philosophers are wrong: it is not words that kill, it is silence.
ELIE WIESEL

Kill Philosophy Silence Word Wrong
Better that one heart be broken a thousand times in the retelling, he has decided, if it means that a thousand other hearts need not be broken at all.
ELIE WIESEL

Better Break Decision Heart Broken Oneself Time

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.

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Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.

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