Elie Wiesel quotes
1928 – 2016 · Romania — United States, 20th–21st century · writer, professor, human‑rights activist, Holocaust survivor
About Elie Wiesel
Born Eliezer Wiesel on 30 September 1928 in Sighet and deported in 1944, he survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Author of Night (1955) and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, he centered his work on memory, moral responsibility and opposition to indifference.
Works: Night; Dawn; The Jews of Silence; All Rivers Run to the Sea
Quotes
“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.”
Source: Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Oslo, December 10, 1986 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- Documented in the transcript of Elie Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech delivered in Oslo on December 10, 1986.
Spoken in his Nobel acceptance speech, this line turns Holocaust witness into an ethical command: failing to choose in the face of suffering often preserves systems of oppression. Wiesel urges public speech and moral engagement on behalf of the persecuted.