In the beginning there was faith - which is childish; trust - which is vain; and illusion - which is dangerous.
I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tor...
For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.
At every step, somebody fell down and ceased to suffer.
I write to understand as much as to be understood.
What does mysticism really mean? It means the way to attain knowledge. It's close to philosophy, except in philosophy you go horizontally while in mysticism you go vertically.
We are all brothers and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive. (pg. 39)
When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.
Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.
I decided to devote my life to telling the story because I felt that having survived I owe something to the dead. and anyone who does not remember betrays them again.
We must choose between the violence of adults and the smiles of children, between the ugliness of hate and the will to oppose it. Between inflicting suffering and humiliation on our fellow man and off...
It is not always events that have touched us personally that affect us the most.
I am not so naïve as to believe that this slim volume will change the course of history or shake the conscience of the world. Books no longer have the power they once did. Those who kept silent yester...
Historically, I come from Jewish history. I had the classic upbringing in the Yeshiva, learning, learning, and more learning.
Look, if I were alone in the world, I would have the right to choose despair, solitude and self-fulfillment. But I am not alone.
We were the masters of nature, the masters of the world. We had transcended everything—death, fatigue, our natural needs. We were stronger than cold and hunger, stronger than the guns and the desire t...
His cold eyes stared at me. At last, he said wearily: I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.
I don't know much about politics, and I don't want to know. That's why I rarely involve myself in politics.
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.
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.