WIST

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) Romanian-American novelist
Nobel Peace Prize Lecture (1986)

Whatever you say about God you should be able to say standing over a pit full of burning babies.

Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) Romanian-American novelist
(Attributed)

There is one right I would not grant anyone. And that is the right to be indifferent.

Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) Romanian-American novelist
(Attributed)

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

Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) Romanian-American novelist
(Attributed)

Where was God in all this? Was this another test, one more? Or a punishment? And if so, for what sins? What crimes were being punished? Was there a misdeed that deserved so many mass graves? Would it ever again be possible to speak of justice, of truth, of divine charity, after the murder of one million Jewish children?

Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) Romanian-American novelist
A Jew Today, “To Be a Jew” (1978)
On the Holocaust.

The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of beauty is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference between life and death.

Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) Romanian-American novelist
In US News & World Report (27 Oct 1986)

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 (b. 1928) Romanian-American novelist
Nobel Prize acceptance speech (10 Dec 1986)