Discovering witnesses is just as important as catching criminals.
Simon WiesenthalRead
We know that we are not collectively guilty, so how can we accuse any other nation, no matter what some of its people have done, of being collectively guilty?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Collective guilt is a flawed concept; we canβt blame entire nations for the actions of individuals.
In this quote, Simon Wiesenthal challenges the notion of collective guilt, suggesting that it is unjust to hold an entire nation accountable for the actions of a few individuals. His statement promotes the idea of individual responsibility and cautions against generalizing the behavior of a few to an entire group, emphasizing that understanding and judgment should be nuanced and contextually aware.
Themes
Collective GuiltIndividual ResponsibilityJudgmentAccountabilityNation
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be referenced in discussions about historical injustices.
More from Simon Wiesenthal
All quotes βJustice for crimes against humanity must have no limitations.
Simon WiesenthalRead
My cause was justice, not vengeance. My work is for a better tomorrow and a more secure future for our children and grandchildren.
Simon WiesenthalRead
The schools would fail through their silence, the Church through its forgiveness, and the home through the denial and silence of the parents. The new generation has to hear what the older generation refuses to tell it.
Simon WiesenthalRead
Human rights is the only ideology that deserves to survive
Simon WiesenthalRead
You're a religious man, ... You believe in God and life after death. I also believe. When we come to the other world and meet the millions of Jews who died in the camps and they ask us, 'What have you done?' there will be many answers. You will say, 'I became a jeweler.' Another will say, 'I smuggled coffee and American cigarettes.' Another will say, 'I built houses.' But I will say, 'I didn't forget you.'
Simon WiesenthalRead
Similar quotes
I suppose society is wonderfully delightful. To be in it is merely a bore. But to be out of it is simply a tragedy.
Oscar WildeRead
Hypocrisy means deliberately pretending. None of us lives up to his ideals; none of us is all that he would like to be or all that he could be in Christ. But that is not hypocrisy. Falling short of our ideals is not hypocrisy. Pretending we have reached our ideals when we have not - that is hypocrisy.
Warren W. WiersbeRead
A straight oar looks bent in the water. What matters is not merely that we see things but how we see them.
Michel De MontaigneRead
There is scarcely anything more important in the government of men than the exact - I will ever say pedantic - observance of the regular forms by which the guilt or innocence of accused persons is determined.
Winston ChurchillRead
Since man cannot live without miracles, he will provide himself with miracles of his own making. He will believe in witchcraft and sorcery, even though he may otherwise be a heretic, an atheist, and a rebel.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
"My insides don't match up with my outsides." "Do anyone's inside and outsides match up?" "I don't know. I'm only me." "Maybe that's what a person's personality is: the difference between the inside and the outside."
Jonathan Safran FoerRead