CHALLENGING THOUGHTS FROM ELIE WIESEL

What to write? Maybe the question would be better asked, what to read or what to see? Elie Wiesel has seen and thought much. Some of what has passed through his mind and heart he has written down. His books are not easy reading but they are worthy of our time and thought. Putting some of these into ink, or maybe translating some of these thoughts into an image in your lens, might be a truly worthy project. Have at it and let me know what happens.  Tim




Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing. — Elie Wiesel


We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. — Elie Wiesel


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. — Elie Wiesel


There is divine beauty in learning. To learn means to accept the postulate that life did not begin at my birth. Others have been here before me, and I walk in their footsteps. The books I have read were composed by generations of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, teachers and disciples. I am the sum total of their experiences, their quests. And so are you. — Elie Wiesel


One person of integrity can make a difference. — Elie Wiesel


For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. — Elie Wiesel


Which is worse? Killing with hate or killing without hate? — Elie Wiesel


Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out, swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...
And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes. And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still red, his eyes not yet extinguished. Behind me, I heard the same man asking:
"For God's sake, where is God?" And from within me, I heard a voice answer: "Where He is? This is where – hanging here from this gallows..." That night, the soup tasted of corpses.— Elie Wiesel (Night)


To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe. — Elie Wiesel


Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.— Elie Wiesel (Night)


I pray to the God within me that He will give me the strength to ask Him the right questions. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


If the only prayer you say throughout your life is "Thank You," then that will be enough. — Elie Wiesel


Only the guilty are guilty. Their children are not. — Elie Wiesel


I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. — Elie Wiesel


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. — Elie Wiesel


For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


[Moishe] explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer.... 'And why do you pray, Moishe?' I asked him. 'I pray to the God within me for the strength to ask Him the real questions.'" — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself. — Elie Wiesel


God is God because he remembers. — Elie Wiesel


The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
(Oct. 1986) — Elie Wiesel


I shall always remember that smile. From what world did it come from? — Elie Wiesel (Night)


He explained to me with great insistence that every question possessed a power that did not lie in the answer. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must - at that moment - become the center of the universe. — Elie Wiesel (The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident)


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


Write only if you cannot live without writing. Write only what you alone can write. — Elie Wiesel


I've been fighting my entire adult life for men and women everywhere to be equal and to be different. But there is one right I would not grant anyone. And that is the right to be indifferent. — Elie Wiesel


I feel that books, just like people, have a destiny. Some invite sorrow, others joy, some both. — Elie Wiesel


I don't want my past to become anyone else's future.— Elie Wiesel


I was inspired by the marvelous example of Giacometti, the great sculptor. He always said that his dream was to do a bust so small that it could enter a matchbook, but so heavy that no one could lift it. That's what a good book should be. — Elie Wiesel


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


Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night…Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


There are victories of the soul and spirit. Sometimes, even if you lose, you win. — Elie Wiesel


You’re shaking … so am I. It’s because of Jerusalem, isn’t it? One doesn’t go to Jerusalem, one returns to it. That’s one of its mysteries. — Elie Wiesel (A Beggar in Jerusalem)


It was like a page torn from a history book, from some historical novel about the captivity of Babylon or Spanish Inquisition. — Elie Wiesel (Night)


Whenever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must-at that moment-become the center of the universe. — Elie Wiesel


I swore to never be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides, neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim, silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. — Elie Wiesel


He explained to me, with great emphasis, that every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer... — Elie Wiesel