( German Diarist ) June 1929 – March 1945
Anne Frank
There’s only one rule you need to remember: laugh at everything and forget everybody else! It sounds egotistical, but it’s actually the only cure for those suffering from self-pity.
People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness.
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
If I haven’t any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself.
We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.
I have often been downcast but never in despair; I regard our hiding as a dangerous adventure, romantic and interesting at the same time. In my diary, I treat all the privations as amusing.
Sympathy, love, fortune… We all have these qualities but still tend to not use them!
I soothe my conscience now with the thought that it is better for hard words to be on paper than that Mummy should carry them in her heart.
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
I simply can’t build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death… I think… peace and tranquillity will return again.
No one has ever become poor by giving.
Where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.
I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.
When I write, I can shake off all my cares.
As long as this exists, this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?
I think a lot, but I don’t say much.
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness.
A quiet conscience makes one strong!
There’s something happening every day, but I’m too tired and lazy to write it all down.
Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.
Because paper has more patience than people.
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!
But feelings can’t be ignored, no matter how unjust or ungrateful they seem.
I live in a crazy time.
Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn’t matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.
I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.
Who would ever think that so much went on in the soul of a young girl?
Whoever doesn’t know it must learn and find by experience that ‘a quiet conscience makes one strong!’
Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.
Memories mean more to me than dresses.
It must be awful to feel you’re not needed.
The young are not afraid of telling the truth.
In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.
The reason for my starting a diary is that I have no real friend.
What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.
I’ve reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die. The world will keep on turning without me, and I can’t do anything to change events anyway.
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.
Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.
He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!
People can tell you to keep your mouth shut, but that doesn’t stop you from having your own opinion.
I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.
The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands.
In the future I’m going to devote less time to sentimentality and more time to reality.
Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude.
Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.
Whoever is happy will make others happy too.
An empty day, though clear and bright, is just as dark as any night.
Don’t be too assuming, it doesn’t get you anywhere.
The weak die out and the strong will survive, and will live on forever.
Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.
