Quotes from Elie Wiesel

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.

Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning. The tragedy of man is that he doesn't know how to distinguish between day and night. He says things at night that should only be said by day.

Once upon a time refugee meant somebody who has a refuge, found a place, a haven where he could find refuge.

To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.

The Holocaust is a sacred subject. One should take off one's shoes when entering its domain, one should tremble each time one pronounces the word.

My teachers [ had the most impact in my life]. Of course, my father and grandfather, but after my family, my teachers.

The only way for us to help ourselves is to help others and to listen to each other's stories.

did everything I could in my life to be immune to hatred, because hatred is a cancer.

For me democracy is the only way of life. The opposite is dictatorship or anarchy.

Life is really fascinated only by death. It vibrates only when it comes in contact with death.

The darkness enveloped us. All I could hear was the violin and it was as if Juliek's soul had become the bow. He was playing his life...He played that which he would never play again.

I have to be self-conscious of what I'm trying to do with my life.

First we must understand that there can be no life without risk - and when our center is strong, everything else is secondary, even the risks.

I don't know much about politics, and I don't want to know. That's why I rarely involve myself in politics.

Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds.

Certain things, certain events, seem inexplicable only for a time: up to the moment when the veil is torn aside.

Man walks the moon but his soul remains riveted to earth. Once upon a time it was the opposite.

In the word question, there is a beautiful word - quest. I love that word.

Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love.

Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.

For me, every hour is grace.

When my father was born, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. When I was born, it was Lithuania. When I left, it was Hungary. It is difficult to say where I come from.

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 spent most of my time talking to God more than to people.