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.
ELIE WIESELTake sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
More Elie Wiesel Quotes
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I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.
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An indifference to suffering makes humans inhuman
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Think higher, feel deeper.
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Education in the key to preventing the cycle of violence and hatred that marred the 20th century from repeating itself in the 21st century.
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For us it’s not easy to be conformist, I cannot stand to be conformist, I don’t accept what it is, I like to say no. If I see an injustice I scream.
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This is the role of writers: to turn their tears into a story – and perhaps into a prayer.
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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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There is much to be done, there is much that can be done… one person of integrity can make a difference.
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The philosophers are wrong: it is not words that kill, it is silence.
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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.
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Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.
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Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it. We must protect it by changing the world.
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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.
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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.
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In the word question, there is a beautiful word – quest. I love that word.
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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.
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When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.
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I write to understand as much as to be understood.
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In order to fly, you have to give up the ground you are standing on.
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One person of integrity can make a difference.
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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.
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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.
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To forget a Holocaust is to kill twice.
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you can do something. You can, even for one person Don’t turn away; help. Because those who suffer, often suffer not because of the person or the group that inflicts the suffering; they seem to suffer because nobody cares.
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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.
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Anything you want to say about God you better make sure you can say in front of a pit of burning babies.
ELIE WIESEL