20 Inspirational Quotes from Elie Wiesel

Elie Wiesel was an outspoken human rights activist whose words informed and inspired millions around the world, as he advocated for social justice and implored people to remember the Holocaust.

Elie Wiesel’s autobiographical book called “Night” reveals the horrors he encountered in many concentration camps. His book has been translated into 30 languages, and since its publication, Elie Wiesel has written more than 60 works of fiction and non-fiction. Elie Wiesel was awarded the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize.

He died at the age of 87, but his legacy as a “messenger to mankind” lives on in the words he used to bear witness to the world’s troubles, and to the significance of being a light for people who are suffering.

Here are 20 inspirational quotes from Elie Wiesel – Holocaust survivor:

#1 ”No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.” – Parade Magazine, 1992

#2 ”Just as man cannot live without dreams, he cannot live without hope. If dreams reflect the past, hope summons the future.” – Nobel lecture, 1986

#3 ”If you ask me what I want to achieve, it’s to create an awareness, which is already the beginning of teaching.” – interview with John S. Friedman, 1978

#4 ”I did not deny God’s existence, but I doubted His absolute justice.” – Night, 1960

#5 ”No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has emerged from the kingdom of night.” – Nobel lecture, 1986

#6 ”Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.” – interview with U.S. media, 1986

#7 “What is abnormal is that I am normal. That I survived the Holocaust and went on to love beautiful girls, to talk, to write, to have toast and tea and live my life – that is what is abnormal.” – interview with Oprah Winfrey, 2000

#8 ”We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering; not to share them would mean to betray them. Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately.” – Nobel lecture, 1986

#9 “To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” – Night, 1960

#10 ”Man can live far from God, not outside God. God is wherever we are. Even in suffering? Even in suffering.” – The Perils of Indifference

#11 ”Whenever an angel says “Be not afraid!” you’d better start worrying. A big assignment is on the way.” – quote from Spirituality and Liberation : Overcoming the Great Fallacy by Robert McAfee Brown, 1988

#12 ”Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.” – Nobel lecture, 1986

#13 ”Whoever listens to a witness, becomes a witness,” – Legacy of Holocaust Survivors conference at Yad Vashem’s Valley of the Communities, 2002

#14 ”I rarely speak about God. To God yes. I protest against Him. I shout at Him.” – interview with John S. Friedman, 1978

#15 ”Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.” – The Gates of the Forest, 1966

#16 ”No human being is illegal.” – Nobel lecture, 1986

#17 ”We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” – Nobel peace prize acceptance speech, 1986

#18 ”The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.” – interview with U.S. media, 1986

#19 ”Some words are deeds.” – Souls on Fire : Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters, 1982

#20 ”Keep your anger and hatred for another day, for later on. The day will come, but not now.” – Night, 1960

Image credit – Grisha Bruev/Shutterstock

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