The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
Elie WieselRead
With every cell of my being and with every fiber of my memory I oppose the death penalty in all forms. I do not believe any civilized society should be at the service of death. I don't think it's human to become an agent of the angel of death.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote expresses a strong moral opposition to the death penalty, emphasizing the inhumanity of taking a life.
Elie Wiesel's quote highlights a profound ethical stance against the death penalty by advocating for the sanctity of life. He argues that a truly civilized society should not endorse capital punishment, as it represents a fundamental moral failure and dehumanization of both the state and the individual, ultimately portraying the executioner as an 'agent of death.'
Themes
Death PenaltyMoralityJusticeHumanityCivilization
In practice
Example use cases
During a debate on criminal justice reform, one could use this quote to advocate against capital punishment.
More from Elie Wiesel
All quotes →Certain things, certain events, seem inexplicable only for a time: up to the moment when the veil is torn aside.
Elie WieselRead
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.
Elie WieselRead
No one is as capable of gratitude as one who has escaped the kingdom of night.
Elie WieselRead
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.
Elie WieselRead
I've given my life to the principle and the ideal of memory, and remembrance.
Elie WieselRead
Similar quotes
Night is falling: at dusk, you must have good eyesight to be able to tell the Good Lord from the Devil.
Jean-Paul SartreRead
When you choose whether to make or keep a covenant with God, you choose whether you will leave an inheritance of hope to those who might follow your example.
Henry B. EyringRead
I want to put on the table, not why 85% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences reject God, I want to know why 15% of the National Academy don’t.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
The American culture ideal of the "self-made-man," of everyone "standing on his own feet" seemed as tragic a picture as the initiative-destroying dependence on a benevolent despot. He felt and perceived clearly that we all need continuous help from each other, and that this type of interdependence is the greatest challenge to maturity of individual and group functioning.
Kurt LewinRead
The fact about himself that the liar hides is that he is attempting to lead us away from a correct apprehension of reality; we are not to know that he wants us to believe something he supposes to be false. The fact about himself that the bullshitter hides, on the other hand, is that the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him . . . He does not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose.
Harry FrankfurtRead
What we want is to be real. Let us not appear to be more than we are. Don't let us put on any cant, any assumed humility, but let us be real; that is the delight of God. God wants us to be real men and women, and if we profess to be what we are not, God knows all about us. God hates sham.
Dwight L. MoodyRead