Elie Wiesel Quotes

I think you can get to a point where nihilism, if that's the right word, is overwhelming, and the basic laws that society has set up - either religious or social laws - become meaningless.

In the end, the art of hunger can be described as an existential art. It is a way of looking death in the face, and by death I mean death as we live it today: without God, without hope of salvation. Death as the abrupt and absurd end of life

Above all remember your humanity.

Debauchery is perhaps an act of despair in the face of infinity.

We cannot despair of humanity, since we ourselves are human beings.

I am just a human being trying to make it in a world that is rapidly losing its understanding of being human.

Everyone is different. We all suffer from the disease of being human. There are a thousand cures but no antidotes.

Artists instinctively want to reflect humanity, their own and each other's, in all its intermittent virtue and vitality, frailty and fallibility.

America has the laws and the material resources it takes to insure justice for all its people. What it lacks is the heart, the humanity, the Christian love that it would take.

It is only our humanity that can deliver us from the brutality of our achievements.

Everything I do is somehow rooted in humanity. It's always about people; it's always about ego. It's always about desperation. It's quite existential. You know, 'Am I leading a good life?' That might be because I'm an atheist, and I think this is all we've got, so you better be nice. And have fun.

It's just as important to be a good human being as it is to be a good actor.

'Ida' is about humanity, about guilt and forgiveness. It's not a film that deals with an issue as such. It's more universal.

My search not only failed, but I convinced myself that all those who had searched like myself had failed also, and come like me to the despairing conviction that the only absolute knowledge man can possess is this—that life is without a meaning.

I searched all areas of knowledge, and not only did I fail to find anything, but I was convinced that all those who had explored as I did had also come up with nothing. Not only had they found nothing, but they had clearly acknowledged the same thing that had brought me to despair: the only absolute knowledge attainable by man is that life is meaningless.

The problem isn't how to make the world more technological. It's about how to make the world more humane again.

What do we mean by setting a man free? You cannot free a man who dwells in a desert and is an unfeeling brute.

In spite of despair, hope must exist. In spite of suffering, humanity must prevail. And in spite of all the differences in the world, the worst enemy, the worst peril, is indifference.

We're all human beings. And we all have our prejudices and so forth, but the thing is, let's be tolerant with each other. And if we could do that, there would be a lot more peace in our world today.

Compassion and justice are companions, not choices.

universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.

Humanity, you never had it from the beginning." That was my motto.

Ever since then I have known that if all the values in this world are more or less questionable, the most important thing in life is kindness.

Be not glad at the misfortune of another, though he may be your enemy.

I have been merely oppressed by the weariness and tedium and vanity of things lately: nothing stirs me, nothing seems worth doing or worth having done: the only thing that I strongly feel worth while would be to murder as many people as possible so as to diminish the amount of consciousness in the world. These times have to be lived through: there is nothing to be done with them.