There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women

I hope so, oh, I hope so very much, because writing allows me to record everything, all my thoughts, ideals and fantasies

No one has ever become poor by giving

Even though I’m only fourteen, I know what I want, I know who’s right and who’s wrong, I have my own opinions, ideas and principles, and though it may sound odd coming from a teenager, I feel I’m more of a person than a child—I feel I’m completely independent of others

Looking back, I realize that this period of my life has irrevocably come to a close; my happy-go-lucky, carefree schooldays are gone forever. I don’t even miss them. I’ve outgrown them. I can no longer just kid around, since my serious side is always there.

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

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

Paper is more patient than man.

Whoever is happy will make others happy too

I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love.

I firmly believe that nature can bring comfort to all who suffer

I’m left with one consolation, small though it may be: my fountain pen was cremated, just as I would like to be some day.

You couldn’t do this and you couldn’t do that, but life went on

I found that it was easier to think up questions than to ask them

We jumped for joy. After the awful events of yesterday, finally something good happens and brings us hope! Hope for an end to the war, hope for peace

The art of living—isn’t that a funny expression?

I’ll show then that Anne Frank wasn’t born yesterday

I know I’m far from being what I should; will I ever be?

As long as you can look fearlessly at the sky, you’ll know that you’re pure within and will find happiness once more

It’s not imagination on my part when I say that to look up at the sky, the clouds, the moon, and the stars make me calm and patient. It’s a better medicine than either valerian or bromine; mother nature makes me humble and prepared to face every blow courageously

People who are religious should be glad, since not everyone is blessed with the ability to believe in a higher order

I’m my best and harshest critic. I know what’s good and what isn’t

I don’t intend to shrink from the truth, because the longer it’s postponed, the harder it will be for them to accept it when they do hear it

We all live, but we don’t know the why or the wherefore

When I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too will end, that peace and tranquility will return once more

I don’t think my opinions are stupid but other people do, so it’s better to keep them to myself

The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings. Otherwise, I might suffocate

It’s easier to whisper your feelings than to trumpet them forth out loud

Chins up, stick it out. Better times will come

Time heals all wounds

Deep down I know I could never be that innocent again, however much I’d like to be

I had an occasional flash of understanding, but then got selfishly wrapped up again in my own problems and pleasures.

Riches can all be lost, but that happiness in your own heart can only be veiled, and it will bring you happiness again, as long as you live.

I can’t let them see my doubts, or the wounds they’ve inflicted on me

I want to see the world and do all kinds of exciting things, and a little money won’t hurt

I had to hold my head up high and put a bold face on things, but the thoughts keep coming anyways.

I looked up in the sky and trusted in God

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

Our lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make our choices. Then our choices make us

Don’t be too assuming, it doesn’t get you anywhere

Ordinary people simply don’t know what books mean to us

You must work and do good, not be lazy and gamble, if you wish to earn happiness

What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it from happening again

The young are not afraid of telling the truth.

This week 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

There’s something happening everyday, but I’m too tired and lazy to write it all down

Crying can bring relief, as long as you don’t cry alone.

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

I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart

Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction

My life here has gotten better, much better. God has not forsaken me, and He never will

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

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

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

Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction

Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with a basic goodness

Sympathy, love, fortune—we all have these qualities but still tend to not use them

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 was born happy. I love people. I have a trusting nature, and I’d like everyone else to be happy too

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 know what I want. I have a goal—an opinion. I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.

Memories mean more to me than dresses

But feelings can’t be ignored, no matter how unjust or ungrateful they seem

I’m sentimental—I know. I’m desperate and silly—I know that too. Oh, help me

I long to ride a bike, dance, whistle, look at the world, feel young and know that I’m free, and yet I can’t let it show

I have an intense need to be alone

No one must know that my heart and mind are constantly at war with each other

I was too happy for words and I believe he was as well

I misjudged her—wasn’t mature enough to understand how difficult it was for her

I don’t want to be cross, love cannot be forced.

I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.

It still makes me happy to think back to those words and that look

But it’s the same with all my friends, just fun and joking, nothing more. I can never bring myself to talk of anything outside the common round.

I don’t want followers, but friends, admirers who fall not for a flattering smile, but for what one does and for one’s character

Whenever he looks at me with those eyes, with that smile and that wink, it’s as if a light goes on inside me.

I’m happy when I see him, and happier still if the sun shines when we’re together

No, I’m not afraid, except when it comes to things about myself, but I’m working on that

There’s one golden rule to keep before you: laugh about everything and don’t bother yourself about the others

Then I fall asleep with a stupid feeling of wishing to be different from what I am or from what I want to be; perhaps to behave differently from the way I want to behave or do behave

He clings to his solitude—to his affected indifference and his grown-up ways, but it’s just an act, so as never, never to show his real feelings

Who knows, perhaps he doesn’t care about me at all and looks at the others in just the same way

It is becoming a bad dream—in the daytime as well as at night. I see him nearly all the time and can’t get at him, I mustn’t show anything, must remain gay while I’m really in despair

I am what a romantic movie is to a profound thinker—a mere diversion, a comic interlude, something that is soon forgotten.

What I condemn are our system of values and the men who don’t acknowledge how great, difficult, but ultimately beautiful women’s share in society is.

This is a photograph of me as I wish I looked all the time. Then I might have a chance of getting in Hollywood

It must be awful to feel you’re not needed.

In the future I’m going to devote less time to sentimentality and more time to reality

Who else but me is ever going to read these letters?

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.

I do my best to please everybody, far more than they’d ever guess. I try to laugh it all off, because I don’t want to let them see my trouble

Love, what is love? I don’t think you can really put it into words. Love is understanding someone, caring for him, sharing his joys and sorrows. This eventually includes physical love. You’ve shared something, given something away and received something in return, whether or not you’re married, whether or not you have a baby. Losing your virtue doesn’t matter, as long as you know that for as long as you live you’ll have someone at your side who understands you, and who doesn’t have to be shared with anyone else

The reason for my starting a diary is that I have no real friends

Boys will be boys, and even that wouldn’t matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls

I wonder if anyone can ever succeed in making their children content.

We’re so fortunate here, away from the turmoil. We wouldn’t have to give a moment’s thought to all this suffering if it weren’t for the fact that we’re so worried about those we hold dear, whom we can no longer help.

Of course, we can’t ever look out the window or go outside. And we have to be quiet so the people downstairs can’t hear us.

We were caught in a vicious circle of unpleasantness and sorrow. Not a very happy period for either us, but at least it’s coming to an end.

Fine specimens of humanity, those Germans, and to think I’m actually one of them! No, that’s not true, Hitler took away our nationality long ago

That’s something we should never forget; while others display their heroism in battle or against the Germans, our helpers prove their’s every day by their good spirits and affection

No one is spared. The sick, the elderly, children, babies, and pregnant women—all marched to their death.

I could spend hours telling you about the suffering the war has brought, but I’d only make myself more miserable

How can thinking about the misery of others help if you’re miserable yourself?

So much has happened; it’s as if the whole world had suddenly turned upside down

I live in a crazy time

I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed, while somewhere out there my dearest friends are dropping from exhaustion or being knocked to the ground

Jews and Christians wait, the whole world waits, and there are many who wait for death

Sleep makes the silence and the terrible fear go by more quickly—helps pass the time—since it’s impossible to kill.

I’ve always had to pay double for my sins: once with scoldings and then again with my own sense of despair.

Things were different when I was growing up

What’s the point of the war? Why, oh why can’t people live together peacefully? Why all this destruction?

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

The strangest things happen to you when you’re in hiding

Besides, your imagination often plays tricks on you in moments of danger

Sometimes I’m so deeply buried under self-reproaches that I long for a word of comfort to help me dig myself out again.

I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.

Don’t condemn me, remember rather that sometimes I, too, can reach the bursting point

I’ve reached the point where I hardly care whether I live or die. The world will keep on turning without me, I can’t do anything to change events anyway.

If we bear all this suffering and if there are still Jews left, when it is over, then Jews, instead of being doomed, will be held up as an example

I’m seething with rage, yet I can’t show it.

Families are torn apart; men, women, and children are separated. Children come back from school to find that their parents have disappeared. Women return from shopping to find their houses sealed, their families gone

And yet not every sense of what’s good and right can be trusted, for what else is war but two sides going to battle over what each thinks is right?

Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude

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

Deep down, the young are lonelier than the old.

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 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

Everyone thinks I’m showing off when I talk, ridiculous when I’m silent, insolent when I answer, cunning when I have a good idea, lazy when I’m tired, selfish when I eat one bite more than I should.

Misfortunes never come singly

Anyhow, I’ve learned one thing now. You only really get to know people when you’ve had a jolly good row with them—only can you judge their true characters

I get frightened myself when I think of close friends who are now at the mercy of the cruelest monsters ever to stalk the earth. And all because they’re Jews

An empty day, though clear and bright, is just as dark as any night

War’s greatest evil—the degradation of the human spirit.

As long as this exists, this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?

You can be lonely even when you are loved by many people, since you are still not anybody’s one and only

A quiet conscience makes one strong

I think a lot, but I don’t say much

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

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

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

I’ve found that there is always some beauty left—in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can all help you

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

Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.

We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same

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

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 hand

Where there’s hope, there’s life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again

I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains

Because paper has more patience than people

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