If I’m engrossed in a book, I have to rearrange my thoughts before I can mingle with other people, because otherwise they might think I was strange.

Women should be respected as well! Generally speaking, men are held in great esteem in all parts of the world, so why shouldn’t women have their share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and commemorated,...

Who would ever think that so much went on in the soul of a young girl?

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.

A voice within me is sobbing, “You see that’s what’s become of you. You’re surrounded by negative opinions, dismayed looks and mocking faces, people who dislike you, and all because you don’t listen to the...

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. I...

It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people...

but i’ve slammed the door to my inner self; if he ever wants to force the lock again, he’ll have to use a harder crowbar!

The final forming of a person’s character lies in their own hands

Despite everything, I believe people are really good at heart.

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

I live in a crazy time.

I’ve learned one thing: you can only really get to know a person after a row. Only then can you judge their true character!

I want friends, not admirers. People who respect me for my character and my deeds, not my flattering smile. The circle around me would be much smaller, but what does that matter, as long as...

They mustn’t know my despair, I can’t let them see the wounds which they have caused, I couldn’t bear their sympathy and their kind-hearted jokes, it would only make me want to scream all the...

Work, love, courage and hope,Make me good and help me cope!

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....

And finally I twist my heart round again, so that the bad is on the outside and the good is on the inside, and keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I...

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

This is the beginning of the end (talking about the war)… Everyone was saying… But the British Prime Minister said, “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But...

Remembering.

In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.

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

Mrs. Van Daan’s grizzling is absolutely unbearable; now she can’t any longer drive us crazy over the invasion, she nags us the whole day long about the bad weather. It really would be nice to...

I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.

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

Whoever is happy will make others happy, too

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

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...

Deep down, the young are lonelier than the old.

But I won’t bore you any longer on the subject of old men. It won’t make things any better and all my plans of revenge (such as disconnecting the lamp, shutting the door, hiding his...

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

Acting is really cool.

Paper is more patient than man.

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

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.

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

In the book Soldiers on the Home Front, I was greatly struck by the fact that in childbirth alone, women commonly suffer more pain, illness and misery than any war hero ever does. An what’s...

The question is very understandable, but no one has found a satisfactory answer to it so far. Yes, why do they make still more gigantic planes, still heavier bombs and, at the same time, prefabricated...

Peter Wessel and Peter Van Daan have grown into one Peter, who is beloved and good, and for whom I long desperately.

Is discord going to show itself while we are still fighting, is the Jew once again worth less than another? Oh, it is sad, very sad, that once more, for the umpteenth time, the old...

A quiet conscience makes one strong!

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

And Then They Came for Me

People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things. You don’t necessarily even have to be afraid of punishment after death; purgatory, hell, and heaven...

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...

Little bundle of contradictions

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

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