Elie Wiesel

“If I were in the government, I would persuade the prime minister to see the beauty in the fact that people see Israel as a haven - from their sadness to their hope.”

“I do not recall a Jewish home without a book on the table.”

“If I were immersed in constant melancholy, I would not be who I am.”

“Man, as long as he lives, is immortal. One minute before his death he shall be immortal. But one minute later, God wins.”

“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.”

“The Bible is not only laws, it's also stories. It begins, 'In the beginning God created Heaven.' If I had written these words, I wouldn't have written anything else; it's just enough.”

“One always goes back to one's childhood in the beginning, and I come from a very religious family and surrounding. Very religious.”

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.”

“Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.”

“Our obligation is to give meaning to life and in doing so to overcome the passive, indifferent life.”

“No one may speak for the dead, no one may interpret their mutilated dreams and visions.”

“I don't know much about politics, and I don't want to know. That's why I rarely involve myself in politics.”

“It's clear to me that one can't be Jewish without Israel. Religious or non-religious, Zionist or non-Zionist, Ashkenazi or Sephardic - all these will not exist without Israel.”

“For in my tradition, as a Jew, I believe that whatever we receive we must share.”

“I do not belong to this world. I continue to write everything in longhand. If I have to see something on the Internet, I ask my secretary or students. I am lucky, because I have people who d...”

“I will say, with memoir, you must be honest. You must be truthful.”

“Because I remember, I despair. Because I remember, I have the duty to reject despair.”

“Without memory, there is no culture. Without memory, there would be no civilization, no society, no future.”

“I was very, very religious. And of course I wrote about it in 'Night.' I questioned God's silence. So I questioned. I don't have an answer for that. Does it mean that I stopped having faith?...”

“After all, God is God because he remembers.”