Elie Wiesel: Humanity

“I swore never to 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

Nobel acceptance speech (1986)

Silence , Suffering , Help

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. The Talmud tells us that by saving a single human being, man can save the world.”

Elie Wiesel

Hope, Despair, and Memory (1986)

World , Time

“Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.”

Elie Wiesel book Night

Source: Night

Peaceful , Women , Men , Suffering

“An immoral society betrays humanity because it betrays the basis for humanity, which is memory.”

Elie Wiesel

"Building a Moral Society", Chamberlin Lecture at Lewis & Clark College (1995)
Context: An immoral society betrays humanity because it betrays the basis for humanity, which is memory. An immoral society deals with memory as some politicians deal with politics. A moral society is committed to memory: I believe in memory. The Greek word alethia means Truth, Things that cannot be forgotten. I believe in those things that cannot be forgotten and because of that so much in my work deals with memory... What do all my books have in common? A commitment to memory.

Memory

“You must intervene. You must interfere. And that is actually the motto of human rights.”

Elie Wiesel

Commencement ceremony http://piermarton.info/elie-wiesel-do-not-stand-idly-by-if-you-witness-injustice/ (Class of 2011) at Washington University in St. Louis.
Context: The greatest commandment to me in the Bible is not the Ten Commandments. (First of all, it’s too difficult to observe; second, we all pretend to observe.) My commandment is ‘Thou shall not stand idly by.’ Which means, when you witness an injustice: Don’t stand idly by. When you hear of a person or a group being persecuted: Do not stand idly by. When there is something wrong with the community around you or far away: Do not stand idly by. You must intervene. You must interfere. And that is actually the motto of human rights.

“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.”

Elie Wiesel

Interview in O : The Oprah Magazine (November 2000)

Personality , Gratitude

“No human race is superior; no religious faith is inferior. All collective judgments are wrong. Only racists make them.”

Elie Wiesel

"Have You Learned The Most Important Lesson Of All?" http://www.thehypertexts.com/Essays%20Articles%20Reviews%20Prose/Elie_Wiesel_Essay_Have_You_Learned_The_Most_Important_Lesson_Of_All.htm, published in Parade Magazine (24 May 1992)

Faith

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides.”

Elie Wiesel

Suffering

“They are committing the greatest indignity human beings can inflict on one another: telling people who have suffered excruciating pain and loss that their pain and loss were illusions.”

Elie Wiesel book Night

Misattributed
Source: Robert McAfee Brown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McAfee_Brown. Preface for the 25th anniversary edition of Night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_%28book%29. Page v, Bantam Books paperback; 1982 reissue edition.

Pain , People , Suffering , Loss

“I told him that I did not believe that they could burn people in our age, that humanity would never tolerate it…”

Elie Wiesel book Night

Source: Night

People , Age

“No human being is illegal.”

Elie Wiesel

Hope, Despair, and Memory (1986)