Quotes by Author

Anne Frank

Annelies "Anne" Marie Frank was born in Frankfurt, Germany on 12 June 1929. She moved with her family (parents Otto & Edith and older sister Margot) to Amsterdam in 1933, to avoid the rising Nazi power. By 1940 they found themselves trapped by the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands and given their Jewish background, this led to increasingly more difficult restrictions on them and their lives.

To avoid being sent to a concentration camp, in July 1942 the Frank family went into hiding - in a small secret apartment in Otto's office, hidden by a bookcase. This proved successful until they were betrayed to the officials in August 1944. Now in concentration camps, her mother Edith died of starvation around the end of 1944, her sister Margot died in March 1945 and Anne (aged 15) a few days later - both due to Typhus - just a few weeks before the camp was liberated.

Her father Otto was the only survivor and returning home, saw Anne's diary she had kept while in hiding, from June 1942 until August 1944. Otto realizing just how important and good it was, had her diary published and it slowly gained momentum, being made into several plays and films. This resulted in Anne Frank being known as a writer and humanist and one of the most famous victims of the holocaust.

A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery.

A quiet conscience makes one strong!

By thinking, nobody can ever get worse but will only get better.

Don't be too assuming, it doesn't get you anywhere.

Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy.

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!

How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then without realizing it, you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day.

How lovely that everyone, great and small, can make their contribution toward introducing justice straightaway...and you can always, always give something, even if it is only kindness!

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness.

I believe that even bad people are truly good at heart.

I can't imagine how anyone can say: "I'm weak," and then remain so. After all, if you know it, why not fight against it. Why not try to train your character? The answer was: "Because it's so much easier not to!"

I don't believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone are guilty of the war. Oh, no, the little man is just as keen, otherwise the people of the world would have risen in revolt long ago!

I don't have much in the way of money or worldly possessions, I'm not beautiful, intelligent or clever, but I'm happy, and I intend to stay that way!

I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met.

If I read a book that impresses me, I have to take myself firmly in hand before I mix with other people; otherwise they would think my mind rather queer.

If the truth is told, things are just as bad as you yourself care to make them.

I love you, with a love so great that it simply couldn't keep growing inside my heart, but had to leap out and reveal itself in all its magnitude.

I'm currently in the middle of a depression. I couldn't really tell you what set it off, but I think it stems from my cowardice, which confronts me at every turn.

I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.

In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.

In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.

I think it's odd that grown-ups quarrel so easily and so often and about such petty matters. Up to now I always thought bickering was just something children did and that they outgrew it.

It's a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals; they seem so absurd and impractical.

I've been reading a lot and doing little work. That's the way things ought to be. That's surely the road to success.

Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.

No one has ever become poor by giving.

One gets on better in life if one is not over modest.

Paper has more patience than people.

Parents can only give good advice or put them (children) on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.

People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.

People can so easily be tempted by slackness...and by money.

People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn't stop you from having your own opinion.

People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things.

Riches, prestige, everything can be lost. But the happiness in your heart can only be dimmed; it will always be there as long as you live, to make you happy again.

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God…I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

There is an urge and rage in people to destroy, to kill, to murder, and until all mankind, without exception, undergoes a great change, wars will be waged, everything that has been built up, cultivated and grown, will be destroyed and disfigured, after which mankind will have to begin all over again.

There's only one rule you need to remember: laugh at everything and forget everybody else! It sound egotistical, but it's actually the only cure for those suffering from self-pity.

The weak die out and the strong will survive, and will live on forever.

The weak fall, but the strong will remain and never go under!

Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Those who have courage and faith shall never perish in misery.

Time heals all wounds.

We have many reasons to hope for great happiness, but…we have to earn it. And that's something you can't achieve by taking the easy way out.

Where there's hope, there's life.

Whoever is happy will make others happy.

Why do some people have to starve, while there are surpluses rotting in other parts of the world? Oh, why are people so crazy?

You only really get to know people when you've had a jolly good row with them. Then and then only can you judge their true characters!