As a survivor of the Nazi death camps, Elie Wiesel saw mankind at its worst. He wrote about it in some 50 books, starting with the powerful “Night,” and made it his life's mission to ensure it was never repeated.
Following are quotes from Wiesel.
“Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.”
— 1986 interview in U.S. News & World Report
“For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living … To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”
— from “Night”
“Close your eyes and listen. Listen to the silent screams of terrified mothers, the prayers of anguished old men and women. Listen to the tears of children. Jewish children, a beautiful little girl among them, with golden hair, whose vulnerable tenderness has never left me. Look and listen as they walk towards dark flames so gigantic that the planet itself seemed in danger.”
— a 1995 address marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
“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 in 2000
“As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our lives will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone.”
— 1986 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech
“No human being is illegal.”
— 1986 Nobel lecture
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