Elie Wiesel Quotes

Paris: city of encounters, of furtive and painful discoveries. All isms converge there, including the anti-isms, all the revolutionaries too, including the counterrevolutionaries .

Drawn to childhood, the old man will seek it in a thousand different ways.

And to write is to sow and to reap at the same time.

Sometimes I think I prefer the storyteller in [Roman Vishniac] to the photographer. But aren't they one and the same?

I don't see the junk youth. I only meet students, and even those who are not formally at the university, if they come to listen to me, they come to read me, it means they are not junk students.

I developed an anger at [Moses] Mendelssohn. Later, I read the book. I realized there was nothing subversive in it.

I became one of [Moses Mendelssohn] defenders. But then I heard the words "Biblical criticism" again. And, of course, afterward, I studied it more closely.

I say to myself, if the text was good enough for my father and grandfather, it must be good enough for me. I admit, that is a rather personal way of approaching the text - or a prayer.

In Talmudic literature, certainly in the beginning, he was like a human being - except he was a serpent. But he was talking and walking and probably dreaming.

For the good of all, I say: Be careful, the brutality of the world must not be more powerful or attractive than love and friendship.

Judaism is in a sense a Rabbinic, Talmudic religion, rather than a Biblical religion.

We've sort of agreed that the account of Adam and Eve is a story.

I personally have no doubt that the Exodus occurred. How it occurred, I don't know.

Perhaps fate isn't blind after all. Perhaps it's capable of fantasy, even compassion.

I try to see their moral relevance [in the Bible] and, of course, to admire the literary beauty of the text. Prophetic poetry: No one has written the way Isaiah does.

I really don't teach the way Professor [Frank Moore] Cross does. I don't teach the text the same way he does. I teach Biblical themes, Biblical events.

Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible.

And action is the only remedy to indifference, the most insidious danger of all.

[ Rabbi Shlomo ben Isaac] was the greatest commentator [of the Bible] we ever had.

I remember when I heard the words "Biblical criticism" in my town, it was with disdain: "Biblical criticism? How dare you?".

I have one request: may I never use my reason against truth.

I was never without a book in my hand.

Memory is the keyword which combines past with present, past and future.

Though we talk peace, we wage war. Sometimes we even wage war in the name of peace. Does that seem paradoxical? Well, war is not afraid of paradoxes.

Writing should not be routine; writing should actually be the opposite of procedural because otherwise the written word would become a routine word.

I come from a tradition - from the Jewish tradition, which believes in words, in language, in communication.

We know, for instance, of "The Book of the Wars of the Lord." It is mentioned in the text [Numbers 21:14]. There was a book: Where is it? One day you will dig and you will maybe find it. [Laughter]

We didn't really differ [with Frank Moore Cross] because we have the same love of the text. We share that love.

There is not anti-semitism as an ideology. The civilized world must think that anti-semitism is stupid.

What does mysticism really mean? It means the way to attain knowledge. It’s close to philosophy, except in philosophy you go horizontally while in mysticism you go vertically.

If the only prayer you say throughout your life is "Thank You, " then that will be enough.

Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must — at that moment — become the center of the universe.

Man comes closer to God through the questions he asks Him, he liked to say.

All this under a magnificent blue sky.

We do not know the worth of one single drop of blood, one single tear.

The world? The world is not interested in us. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria...

Indifference to me, is the epitome of all evil.

True enemies aren't always the ones who hate each other.

A mn ages hs enemy because he hates his own hate. He says to himself: I hate him not because he's my enemy, not because he hates me, but because he arouses me to hate.

From Jeff Greenfield: "I once asked Elie Wiesel "Are you an optimist or a pessimist?" "An optimist, " he said. "I have to be.

Violence is not the answer. Terrorism is the most dangerous of answers.

Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.

Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. thats all we thought about. No thought of revenge, or of parents. Only of bread.

Friendship marks a life even more deeply rhan love. Love risks degenerating into obsession friendship is never anything but sharing.

We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.

Historically, I come from Jewish history. I had the classic upbringing in the Yeshiva, learning, learning, and more learning.

Religion is not man's relationship to God, it is man's relationship to man.

Religion is a very personal thing for me. Religion has its good moments and its poor moments.

Mankind must remember that peace is not God's gift to his creatures peace is our gift to each other.