Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel
Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel KBEwas a Romanian-born American Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. He was the author of 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth30 September 1928
CountryUnited States of America
came disciples fact preach sing
It used to be said that when the Baal Shem Tov came into a town, his impact was so strong, he didn't have to speak. His disciples had to dance or to sing or to preach to have the same effect. I think a real messenger, myself or anyone, by the very fact that he is there as a person, as a symbol, could have the same impact.
denigrate easy hurts life teacher word
I'm a teacher and a writer; my life is words. When I see the denigration of language, it hurts me, and it's easy to denigrate a word by trivializing it.
exist zionist
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.
failed substitute
Language failed me very often, but then, the substitute for me was silence, but not violence.
became believe experience given tried war
My greatest disappointment is that I believe that those of us who went through the war and tried to write about it, about their experience, became messengers. We have given the message, and nothing changed.
The Bible is not only laws, it's also stories.
god relationship religion
Religion is not man's relationship to God, it is man's relationship to man.
When my father was born, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. When I was born, it was Lithuania. When I left, it was Hungary. It is difficult to say where I come from.
except five four pull vanished
When did I learn the Bible? When I was four or five years old. It's still the pull of my childhood, a fascination with the vanished world, and I can find everything except that world.
attraction express felt towards
I never felt any attraction towards violence. I never tried to express myself through violence. Violence is a language.
alongside peace peacefully state
I would like to see real peace and a state of Israel living peacefully alongside a state of Palestine.
believe
I believe in superstitions. You don't talk about a child who hasn't been born.
bible created god written
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.
amazed nobel
You would be amazed at the number of doors a Nobel Prize opens.