In the beginning there was faith – which is childish; trust – which is vain; and illusion – which is dangerous.
ELIE WIESELWe 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.
More Elie Wiesel Quotes
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Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
ELIE WIESEL -
Most people think that shadows follow, precede or surround beings or objects. The truth is that they also surround words, ideas, desires, deeds, impulses and memories.
ELIE WIESEL -
This is the role of writers: to turn their tears into a story – and perhaps into a prayer.
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 -
The philosophers are wrong: it is not words that kill, it is silence.
ELIE WIESEL -
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.
ELIE WIESEL -
Mankind must remember that peace is not God’s gift to his creatures; peace is our gift to each other.
ELIE WIESEL -
Bite your lips, little brother…Don’t cry. Keep your anger, your hate, for another day, for later. The day will come but not now…Wait. Clench your teeth and wait.
ELIE WIESEL -
For nearly 3,500 years Exodus has left such an imprint on people’s memories that I cannot imagine it had been invented just as a legend or a tale.
ELIE WIESEL -
But where was I to start? The world is so vast, I shall start with the country I knew best, my own. But my country is so very large. I had better start with my town. But my town, too, is large. I had best start with my street. No, my home. No, my family. Never mind, I shall start with myself.
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What is man? Hope turned to dust. No. What is man? Dust turned to hope.
ELIE WIESEL -
I have not lost faith in God. I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I’ve been closer to him for that reason.
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Eternity is the place where questions and answers become one.
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One person of integrity can make a difference.
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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