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I was 15, not 14, when I was inside there [Auschwitz], 15, and for me both were actually a surprise.

Elie Wiesel

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Elie Wiesel
Age: 87 †
Born: 1928
Born: September 30
Died: 2016
Died: July 2
Autobiographer
Humanist
Journalist
Judaic Scholar
Novelist
Philosopher
Political Activist
Professor
Translator
University Teacher
Writer
Sighetu Marmaţiei
Eliezer Wiesel
A-7713
Élie Wiesel
Auschwitz
Surprise
Inside
Actually

More quotes by Elie Wiesel

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I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes were open and I was alone - terribly alone in a world without God and without (hu)man(ity).
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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.
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No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions.
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It may well be that our means are fairly limited and our possibilities restricted when it comes to applying pressure on our government But is this a reason to do nothing? Despair is nor an answer Neither is resignation Resignation only leads to indifference, which is not merely a sin but a punishment.
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God made (human beings) because he loves stories.
Elie Wiesel
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What would the future of man be if it were devoid of memory?
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you can do something. You can, even for one person Don't turn away help. Because those who suffer, often suffer not because of the person or the group that inflicts the suffering they seem to suffer because nobody cares.
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It is up to us to determine whether the years ahead will be for humankind a curse or a blessing. We always must remember that it is given to men and women to choose life and living, not death and destruction.
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In the face of suffering, one has no right to turn away, not to see. In the face of injustice, one may not look the other way. When someone suffers, and it is not you, that person comes first. One's very suffering gives one priority. . . . To watch over one who grieves is a more urgent duty than to think of God.
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No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has escaped the kingdom of night.
Elie Wiesel
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The opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
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I think that human beings are capable of the worst things possible and they show that there were times, and there probably are times, that it is human to be inhuman.
Elie Wiesel
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Perhaps some day someone will explain how, on the level of man, Auschwitz was possible but on the level of God, it will forever remain the most disturbing of mysteries.
Elie Wiesel
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For me democracy is the only way of life. The opposite is dictatorship or anarchy.
Elie Wiesel
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Perhaps fate isn't blind after all. Perhaps it's capable of fantasy, even compassion.
Elie Wiesel
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If there is a single theme that dominates all my writings, all my obsessions, it is that of memory-because I fear forgetfulness as much as hatred and death.
Elie Wiesel
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When you die and go to heaven our maker is not going to ask, 'why didn't you discover the cure for such and such? why didn't you become the Messiah?' The only question we will be asked in that precious moment is 'why didn't you become you?'
Elie Wiesel
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I would say to [Chinese government], You don't need Tibet really. You don't need all the problems Tibet creates for you. It's so small, so far away. Give them their religious freedom and I know that they wouldn't misuse it.
Elie Wiesel
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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.
Elie Wiesel
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Judaism is in a sense a Rabbinic, Talmudic religion, rather than a Biblical religion.
Elie Wiesel