Elie Wiesel

But because of his telling, many who did not believe have come to believe, and some who did not care have come to care. He tells the story, out of infinite pain, partly to honor the dead, but also to warn the living - to warn the living that it could happen again and that it must never happen again. Better than one heart be broken a thousand times in the retelling, he has decided, if it means that a thousand other hearts need not be broken at all. (vi)

Whoever survives a test, whatever it may be, must tell the story. That is his duty.

In the beginning there was faith - which is childish; trust - which is vain; and illusion - which is dangerous.

The world? The world is not interested in us. Today, everything is possible, even the crematoria...

MENDEL: Once you’re on your knees, you can’t stand up straight again.

From time immemorial, people have talked about peace without achieving it. Do we simply lack enough experience? Though we talk peace, we wage war. Sometimes we even wage war in the name of peace. . . . War may be too much a part of history to be eliminated—ever.

When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. The Talmud tells us that by saving a single human being, man can save the world.

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

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

I told him that I did not believe that they could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it…