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
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I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him. I am prepared to sacrifice the things dearest to me in pursuit of this quest. Even if the sacrifice demanded my very life, I hope I may be prepared to give it.
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In many ways we were drugged when we were young. We were brought up to need people. For what? For acceptance, approval, appreciation, applause.
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When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell and the war-whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order.
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This afternoon held that special quality of mournful emptiness I've connected with late Sunday afternoons ever since childhood: the feeling of having nothing to do.
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I want nothing less than a faith founded upon a rock, faith in the constitution of things. The various man-made creeds are fictitious, like the constellations Orion, Cassiopeia’s Chair, the Big Dipper; the only thing real in them is the stars, and the only thing real in the creeds is the soul’s aspiration toward the Infinite.
John BurroughsRead
I think if a physician wrote on a death certificate that old age was the cause of death, he'd be thrown out of the union. There is always some final event, some failure of an organ, some last attack of pneumonia, that finishes off a life. No one dies of old age.
George WaldRead