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Words of Wisdom

Elie Wiesel: We Are Defined By Our Attitude Toward Gratitude

“When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”
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Elie Wiesel (b. 1928) is a Romanian-born, Jewish-American writer, author, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, and Holocaust survivor. His semi-autobiographical novel Night is a landmark piece in the canon of Holocaust literature and earned Wiesel the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. He is the author of over 50 books, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal, and the Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities at Boston University.


“When a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.”

Source: Interview with O! The Oprah Magazine, Nov. 2000 (via Wikiquote

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