25 Powerful & Inspiring Elie Wiesel Quotes
“Elie Wiesel” by “Veni“, licensed under CC BY 2.0
Elie Wiesel was born on 30 September 1928. He is best known as a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored over 57 books, mainly in French and English. Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, is one of his famous books.
The thoughts of Elie Wiesel are inspirational and challenging. He believed that all people have a responsibility to confront evil in the world, give voice to the voiceless, and speak truth to power. We have collected these Elie Wiesel quotes that are powerful and have an inspiring message.
Elie Wiesel Quotes
“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: PARADE MAGAZINE (24 MAY 1992)
“Once you bring life into the world, you must protect it. We must protect it by changing the world.“
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: INTERVIEW IN WRITERS AT WORK (1988)
“In the beginning there was faith – which is childish; trust – which is vain; and illusion – which is dangerous.“
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: NIGHT
“The sky is so close to the sea that it is difficult to tell which is reflected in the other, which one needs the other, which one is dominating the other.“
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: DAY
“Some writings could sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds.“
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: HOW AND WHY I WRITE: AN INTERVIEW WITH ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: THE PENGUIN BOOK OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY SPEECHES
“Every book that I have written corresponds to a certain immediacy.“
ELIE WIESEL
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: FROM THE KINGDOM OF MEMORY
“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.“
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: NIGHT
“I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: NIGHT
“The most important question a human being has to face… What is it? The question, Why are we here?“
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: THE TESTAMENT
“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”
ELIE WIESEL
“In the face of suffering, one has no right to turn away, not to see.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: MESSENGERS OF GOD: A TRUE STORY OF ANGELIC PRESENCE AND THE RETURN TO
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: NIGHT
“An indifference to suffering makes humans inhuman.”
ELIE WIESEL
“Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: NIGHT
SOURCE: NIGHT
“I have not lost faith in God. I have moments of anger and protest. Sometimes I’ve been closer to him for that reason.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: “MAN IN THE NEWS; WITNESS TO EVIL: ELIEZER WEISEL”. WWW.NYTIMES.COM. OCTOBER 15, 1986
“Because I survived, I must do everything possible to help others.“
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: INTERVIEW WITH OPRAH WINFREY
“Only fanatics — in religion as well as in politics — can find a meaning in someone else’s death.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: THE JUDGES
“Suffering pulls us farther away from other human beings. It builds a wall made of cries and contempt to separate us.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: DAY
“When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: INTERVIEW WITH OPRAH WINFREY
“Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love.”
ELIE WIESEL
SOURCE: FROM THE KINGDOM OF MEMORY
The Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies at Boston University was named in Wiesel’s honour when he was appointed Andrew Mellon Professor of the Humanities at Boston University in 1976. He also became a close friend of the president and chancellor John Silber.
That’s a wrap! These are our favourite Elie Wiesel quotes. We hope you also got something to take away from these Elie Wiesel quotes and learn more about his personality. You can also check out these 40 Abraham Maslow Quotes On Hierarchy Of Needs & More!
