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The most important question a human being has to face. What is it? The question, Why are we here?

Elie Wiesel

What is man? Hope turned to dust. No. What is man? Dust turned to hope.
ELIE WIESEL

Dust Hope Man
Whoever survives a test, whatever it may be, must tell the story. That is his duty.
ELIE WIESEL

Himself Story Survive
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
ELIE WIESEL

Encouragement Silence Torment
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
To remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all.
ELIE WIESEL

Different Greatness Silence Sin
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
We believed in God, trusted in man, and lived with the illusion that every one of us has been entrusted with a sacred spark.
ELIE WIESEL

Believe God Illusion Man Spark
Human beings all change. Not what they are but who they are. We have the power to change what we do with our life and turn it into our destiny.
ELIE WIESEL

Change Destiny Human Ourselves Power
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.
ELIE WIESEL

Human Mission Pain People Religion Suffering
The philosophers are wrong: it is not words that kill, it is silence.
ELIE WIESEL

Kill Philosophy Silence Word Wrong
I came to the conclusion that I am free to choose my own suffering. But I am not free to consent to someone else’s suffering.
ELIE WIESEL

Choice Freedom Myself Suffering
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
Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.
ELIE WIESEL

Life Meaning Obligation Ourselves Passive
When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.
ELIE WIESEL

Gratitude Herself Humanity Missing Person
I have not lost faith in God. I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I’ve been closer to him for that reason.
ELIE WIESEL

Angry Faith God Lost Moments Myself Reason
All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them. No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior.
ELIE WIESEL

Collection Faith Inferior Judgement Religion

The most important question a human being has to face. What is it? The question, Why are we here?

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The most important question a human being has to face. What is it? The question, Why are we here?

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Popular Authors

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