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.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

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.

Peace is our gift to each other.

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

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

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.

Some stories are true that never happened.

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.

I do not recall a Jewish home without a book on the table.

Now, when I hear that Christians are getting together in order to defend the people of Israel, of course it brings joy to my heart. And it simply says, look, people have learned from history.

In Jewish history there are no coincidences.

Hope is like peace. It is not a gift from God. It is a gift only we can give one another.

After all, God is God because he remembers.

Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.

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

I was very, very religious. And of course I wrote about it in 'Night.' I questioned God's silence. So I questioned. I don't have an answer for that. Does it mean that I stopped having faith? No. I have faith, but I question it.

No human race is superior no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.

Not to transmit an experience is to betray it.

No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions.