Elie Wiesel

Author

1928-09-30 – 2016-07-02

Elie Wiesel was a Romanian-born Jewish writer, Holocaust survivor, and human rights advocate. His memoir Night became a foundational testimony of the Holocaust. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Books by Elie Wiesel

La Nuit
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La Nuit / L'Aube / Le Jour
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Dawn
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Quotes by Elie Wiesel

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.
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What is the difference between Jew and Christians? We all await the Messiah. You believe He has already come and gone, while we do not. I therefore propose that we await Him together. And when He appears, we can ask Him: were You here before?
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Music does not replace words, it gives tone to the words
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We do not know the worth of one single drop of blood, one single tear.
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We must choose between the violence of adults and the smiles of children, between the ugliness of hate and the will to oppose it. Between inflicting suffering and humiliation on our fellow man and offering him the solidarity and hope he deserves. Or not.
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We are all brothers and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive. (pg. 39)
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All this under a magnificent blue sky.
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For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.
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A disciple came to the celebrated Master of the Good Name with a question. "Rabbi, how are we to distinguish between a true master and a fake?" And the master of the good name said, —When you meet a person who poses as a master, ask him a question: whether he knows how to purify your thoughts. If he says that he knows, then he is a fake.
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Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write.
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I write to understand as much as to be understood.
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Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed.Never shall I forget that smoke.Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live.Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself.Never.
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There's a long road of suffering ahead of you. But don't lose courage. You've already escaped the gravest danger: selection. So now, muster your strength, and don't lose heart. We shall all see the day of liberation. Have faith in life. Above all else, have faith. Drive out despair, and you will keep death away from yourselves. Hell is not for eternity. And now, a prayer - or rather, a piece of advice: let there be comradeship among you. We are all brothers, and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive.
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My faceless neighbor spoke up:"Don't be deluded. Hitler has made it clear that he will annihilate all Jews before the clock strikes twelve."I exploded:"What do you care what he said? Would you want us to consider him a prophet?His cold eyes stared at me. At last he said, wearily:"I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.
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I still believe in man in spite of man. I believe in language even though it has been wounded, deformed, and perverted by the enemies of mankind. And I continue to cling to words because it is up to us to transform them into instruments of comprehension rather than contempt. It is up to us to choose whether we wish to use them to curse or to heal, to wound or to console.
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Even in darkness it is possible to create light and encourage compassion. That it is possible to feel free inside a prison. That even in exile, friendship exists and can become an anchor. That one instant before dying, man is still immortal.
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Man comes closer to God through the questions he asks Him, he liked to say.
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For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.
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The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
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There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.
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