Quotes by Elie Wiesel

About Elie Wiesel:

Eliezer is a Romanian-born Jewish writer, professor, political activist, and Nobel Laureate. He is the author of 57 books, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz, Buna, and Buchenwald concentration camps. Wiesel is also the Advisory Board chairman of the newspaper Algemeiner Journal.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

If I were in the government, I would persuade the prime minister to see the beauty in the fact that people see Israel as a haven - from their sadness to their hope.

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

In Jewish history there are no coincidences.

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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.

Elie Wiesel

Some stories are true that never happened.

Elie Wiesel

It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed.

Elie Wiesel

I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.

Elie Wiesel

Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.

Elie Wiesel

Man, as long as he lives, is immortal. One minute before his death he shall be immortal. But one minute later, God wins.

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

I wanted to write a commentary on the Bible, to write about the Talmud, about celebration, about the great eternal subjects: love and happiness.

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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.

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

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

Elie Wiesel

Author Bio

  • NameElie Wiesel
  • Descriptionwriter, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor
  • AliasesEliezer Wiesel
  • BornSeptember 30, 1928
  • CountryRomania; United States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter; Political Activist; Judaic Scholar; Novelist; Autobiographer
  • AwardsNobel Peace Prize; Knight Commander Of The Order Of The British Empire; Norman Mailer Prize; Presidential Medal Of Freedom; National Humanities Medal; Four Freedoms Award - Freedom Of Worship; Freedom Award; Light Of Truth Award