„Where there's hope, there's life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.“
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank quotes
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Anne Frank
Birthdate: 12. June 1929
Date of death: 1945
Other names: Анна Франк, Anna Franková
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank was a German-born Dutch-Jewish diarist. One of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust, she gained fame posthumously with the publication of The Diary of a Young Girl , in which she documents her life in hiding from 1942 to 1944, during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. It is one of the world's best known books and has been the basis for several plays and films.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, she lived most of her life in or near Amsterdam, Netherlands, having moved there with her family at the age of four and a half when the Nazis gained control over Germany. Born a German national, she lost her citizenship in 1941 and thus became stateless. By May 1940, the Franks were trapped in Amsterdam by the German occupation of the Netherlands. As persecutions of the Jewish population increased in July 1942, the Franks went into hiding in some concealed rooms behind a bookcase in the building where Anne's father, Otto Frank, worked. From then until the family's arrest by the Gestapo in August 1944, she kept a diary she had received as a birthday present, and wrote in it regularly. Following their arrest, the Franks were transported to concentration camps. In October or November 1944, Anne and her sister, Margot, were transferred from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died a few months later. They were originally estimated by the Red Cross to have died in March, with Dutch authorities setting 31 March as their official date of death, but research by the Anne Frank House in 2015 suggests it is more likely that they died in February.Otto, the only survivor of the Franks, returned to Amsterdam after the war to find that her diary had been saved by his secretary, Miep Gies, and his efforts led to its publication in 1947. It was translated from its original Dutch version and first published in English in 1952 as The Diary of a Young Girl, and has since been translated into over 70 languages.
Works
Diary of Anne Frank
Anne FrankQuotes Anne Frank
„Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.“
15 July 1944
(1942 - 1944)
Original: (nl) Ouders kunnen alleen raad of goede aanwijzingen meegeven, de uiteindelijke vorming van iemands karakter ligt in zijn eigen hand.
„In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.“
— Anne Frank, Diary of Anne Frank
Source: The Diary of Anne Frank
„Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.“
As quoted in 7 Laws of Human Nature: The Oneness of Universal Love (2017) by Conrad Spainhower and other self-help books and quotation sites.
Disputed
„I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!“
5 April 1944
The Diary of a Young Girl (1942 - 1944)
Original: (nl) Ik moet iets hebben naast man en kinderen waar ik me aan wijden kan! O ja, ik wil niet zoals de meeste mensen voor niets geleefd hebben. Ik wil van nut of plezier zijn voor de mensen, die om mij heen leven en die mij toch niet kennen.
Variant: I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met.
„Everyone thinks I'm showing off when I talk, ridiculous when I'm silent, insolent when I answer, cunning when I have a good idea, lazy when I'm tired, selfish when I eat one bite more than I should.“
Variant: If I talk, everyone thinks I'm showing off; when I'm silent they think I'm ridiculous, rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I'm tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc., etc.
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
„What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.“
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
„People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn't stop you from having your own opinion.“
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
„No one has ever become poor by giving.“
Attributed to Anne Frank in various self-help books but always without citation.
Disputed
Source: diary of Anne Frank: the play
„Don't condemn me, remember rather that sometimes I, too, can reach the bursting point.“
Source: The Diary of Anne Frank: And Related Readings
„Deep down, the young are lonelier than the old.“
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl
„It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.“
15 July 1944; Variant translations:
It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.
I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.
I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death...and yet...I think...this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
Original: (nl) Dat is het moeilijke in deze tijd: idealen, dromen, mooie verwachtingen komen nog niet bij ons op of ze worden door de gruwelijke werkelijkheid getroffen en zo totaal verwoest. Het is een groot wonder, dat ik niet al mijn verwachtingen heb opgegeven, want ze lijken absurd en onuitvoerbaar. Toch houd ik ze vast, ondanks alles, omdat ik nog steeds aan de innerlijke goedheid van den mens geloof. Het is me ten enenmale onmogelijk alles op te bouwen op de basis van dood, ellende en verwarring. Ik zie hoe de wereld langzaam steeds meer in een woestijn herschapen wordt, ik hoor steeds harder de aanrollende donder, die ook ons zal doden, ik voel het leed van millioenen mensen mee en toch, als ik naar de hemel kijk, denk ik, dat alles zich weer ten goede zal wenden, dat ook deze hardheid zal ophouden, dat er weer rust en vrede in de wereldorde zal komen. Intussen moet ik mijn denkbeelden hoog en droog houden, in de tijden die komen zijn ze misschien toch nog uit te voeren.
Source: The Diary of a Young Girl (1942 - 1944)
Context: It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It's utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more. In the meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps the day will come when I'll be able to realize them!
„How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.“
Source: Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex
