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Acutely aware of the poverty of my means, language became obstacle. At every page I thought, 'That's not it.' So I began again with other verbs and other images. No, that wasn't it either. But what exactly was that it I was searching for? It must have been all that eludes us, hidden behind a veil so as not to be stolen, usurped and trivialized. Words seemed weak and pale.
Elie Wiesel
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote reflects the struggle of an artist in expressing profound concepts through inadequate language.

In this quote, Elie Wiesel articulates the frustration experienced by writers and artists when their chosen medium fails to capture the complexity and depth of their thoughts and emotions. He conveys a sense of searching for a deeper truth or meaning that remains just out of reach, suggesting that the essence of what one wishes to express often evades precise articulation, leaving them to grapple with the limitations of language.

Themes

LanguageCreativityExpressionArtMeaning

In practice

Example use cases

During a literary workshop, to express the difficulties of writing, one might quote Wiesel.

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Certain things, certain events, seem inexplicable only for a time: up to the moment when the veil is torn aside.
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We're alone, but we are capable of communicating to one another both our loneliness and our desire to break through it. You say, 'I'm alone.' Someone answers, 'I'm alone too.' There's a shift in the scale of power. A bridge is thrown between the two abysses.
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No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has escaped the kingdom of night.
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My loyalty to my people, to our people, and to Israel comes first and prevents me from saying anything critical of Israel outside Israel… As a Jew I see my role as a melitz yosher, a defender of Israel: I defend even her mistakes… I must identify with whatever Israel does – even with her errors.
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