Quotes from Elie Wiesel

My greatest disappointment is that I believe that those of us who went through the war and tried to write about it, about their experience, became messengers. We have given the message, and nothing changed.

Some stories are true that never happened.

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.

I will say, with memoir, you must be honest. You must be truthful.

That is my major preoccupation, memory, the kingdom of memory. I want to protect and enrich that kingdom, glorify that kingdom and serve it.

..you do not leave a library; if you do what it wants you to do, you are taking it with you.

I don't think I should accept other people's suffering because I suffered. Just the opposite, because I suffered I don't want others to suffer.

I'm not a political person, and their ambitions are not mine. They want power. I don't want power.

If you ask me what I want to achieve, it's to create an awareness, which is already the beginning of teaching.

I believe a human being - if he or she wants to remain human, then he or she must do something with what we have seen, endured, witnessed.

Except if it has some historical meaning for them to have Tibet under their control. I don't understand why [ Chinese] want it so much.

Naturally, the human being wants to forget pain.

[Adolf] Hitler needed, he didn't want to kill Jews, he wanted to expel German Jews, and therefore it's not entirely corroborating your theory.

In any society, fanatics who hate don't hate only me - they hate you, too. They hate everybody.

Look, if I were alone in the world, I would have the right to choose despair, solitude and self-fulfillment. But I am not alone.

Our first act as free men was to throw ourselves onto the provisions. thats all we thought about. No thought of revenge, or of parents. Only of bread.

If I were immersed in constant melancholy, I would not be who I am.

It's clear to me that one can't be Jewish without Israel. Religious or non-religious, Zionist or non-Zionist, Ashkenazi or Sephardic - all these will not exist without Israel.

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

I never teach the same course twice.

For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.

Why is war such an easy option? Why does peace remain such an elusive goal? We know statesmen skilled at waging war, but where are those dedicated enough to humanity to find a way to avoid war

Mankind needs peace more than ever, for our entire planet, threatened by nuclear war, is in danger of total destruction. A destruction only man can provoke, only man can prevent.

I don't like docudramas. Documentaries should not go together with fiction, or half-fiction or quarter-fiction. The two should not go together. They cannot mix.