624 Quotes by Elie Wiesel

Every single human being is a unique human being. And, therefore, it’s so criminal to do something to that human being, because he or she represents humanity.

Man asks and God replies. But we don’t understand His replies. We cannot understand them. Because they dwell in the depths of our souls and remain there until we die.

I remember a young Hungarian Jew, his shoulders stooped like an old man’s, who confessed to some infraction so as to be beaten in his uncle’s stead. “I am young”, he said, “and stronger than he.” He was young but no less weak. He did not survive the beating.

There are a thousand and one gates leading into the orchard of mystical truth. Every human being has his own gate. We must never make the mistake of wanting to enter the orchard by any gate but our own. To do this is dangerous for the one who enters and also for those who are already there.

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

All my life, until today, I have been content to ask questions. All the while knowing that the real questions, those that concern the creator and his creation, have no answers. I’ll go even farther and say that there is a level at which only the questions are eternal, the answers never are. And so, the patient that I am, more charitable, repeats: ‘Since God is, He is to be found in the questions as well as in the answers.

I don’t want my past to become anyone else’s future.

One German officer lived in the house opposite ours. He had a room with the Kahn family. They said he was a charming man – calm, likable, polite, and sympathetic. Three days after he moved in he brought Madame Kahn a box of chocolates. The optimists rejoiced.

In this place, there is no such thing as father, brother, friend. Each of us lives and dies alone.