“In the beginning there was faith – which is childish; trust – which is vain; and illusion – which is dangerous.”

Whoever survives a test, whatever it may be, must tell the story. That is his duty.

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

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

Suffering pulls us farther away from other human beings. It builds a wall made of cries and contempt to separate us.

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

Gratitude is a word that I cherish. Gratitude is what defines the happiness and humanity of the human being.

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.

All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them. No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior.

In the word question, there is a beautiful word – quest. I love that word.

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.

I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.

I write to understand as much as to be understood.

My faith is a wounded faith, but my life is not without faith. I didn’t divorce God, but I’m quarrelling and arguing and questioning, it’s a wounded faith.

To forget a Holocaust is to kill twice.

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

A Jew must be sensitive to the pain of all human beings. A Jew cannot remain indifferent to human suffering… The mission of the Jewish people has never been to make the world more Jewish, but to make it more human.

Crisis is the path to happiness. Decay and disintegration do not spell doom, but ascent and beginning. The powerful forces of a new creation operate in the hush beyond the noise of the day.

When asked for advice by beginners. Know your ending, I say, or the river of your story may finally sink into the desert sands and never reach the sea.

If the German people lay down their arms the whole of Eastern and Southern Europe, together with the Reich, will come under Russian occupation. Behind an iron curtain mass butcheries of people would begin.

Every storm started with just a little drizzling.

I thought I’d begin by reading a poem by Shakespeare, but then I thought, why should I? He never reads any of mine.

I started my life with Rs 5,000.

It seems wisest to assume the worst from the beginning, and let anything better come as a surprise.

The day you stop learning is the day you begin decaying.