Anne Frank
This morning I lay in the bathtub thinking how wonderful it would be if I had a dog like Rin Tin Tin. I'd call him Rin Tin Tin too, and I'd take him to school with me, where he could stay in the janitor's room or by the bicycle racks when the weather was good.Collection: Morning
I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.Collection: Time
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.Collection: Inspirational
Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.Collection: Beauty
Whoever is happy will make others happy too.Collection: Inspirational
Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction.Collection: Work
Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.Collection: Good
He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!Collection: Faith
I have a family, loving aunts, and a good home. No, on the surface I seem to have everything except my one true friend. All I think about when I'm with friends is having a good time. I can't bring myself to talk about anything but ordinary everyday things. We don't seem to be able to get any closer, and that's the problem.Collection: Family
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, explorers are granted immortal fame, martyrs are revered, but how many people look upon women too as soldiers?Collection: War
I live in a crazy time.Collection: Time
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be.Collection: Nature
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.Collection: Power
I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery and death... I think... peace and tranquillity will return again.Collection: Death
The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.Collection: Brainy
I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness; I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too. I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more.Collection: Peace
I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.Collection: Beauty
Writing in a diary is a really strange experience for someone like me. Not only because I've never written anything before, but also because it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.Collection: Experience
Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that 'a quiet conscience makes one strong!'Collection: Experience
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. I want to go on living even after my death!Collection: Death
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.Collection: Change
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.Collection: Romantic
After May 1940, the good times were few and far between; first there was the war, then the capitulation, and then the arrival of the Germans, which is when the trouble started for the Jews.Collection: War
In the long run, the sharpest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.
No one has ever become poor by giving.
We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.
Although I'm only fourteen, I know quite well what I want. I know who is right and who is wrong. I have my opinions, my own ideas and principles, and although it may sound pretty mad from an adolescent, I feel more of a person than a child. I feel quite independent of anyone.
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 would so like to be, and could be, if there weren't any other people living in the world.
Who would ever think that so much went on in the soul of a young girl?
I'm afraid that people who know me as I usually am will discover I have another side, a better and finer side. I'm afraid they'll mock me, think I'm ridiculous and sentimental and not take me seriously. I'm used to not being taken seriously, but only the 'light-hearted' Anne is used to it and can put up with it; the 'deeper' Anne is too weak.
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.
If I haven't any talent for writing books or newspaper articles, well, then I can always write for myself.
Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.
No one knows Anne's better side, and that's why most people can't stand me. Oh, I can be an amusing clown for an afternoon, but after that, everyone's had enough of me to last a month.
My lighter, more superficial side will always steal a march on the deeper side and therefore always win. You can't imagine how often I've tried to push away this Anne, which is only half of what is known as Anne - to beat her down, hide her.
If I read a book that impresses me, I have to take myself firmly by the hand, before I mix with other people; otherwise they would think my mind rather queer.
When I write, I can shake off all my cares.
Because we're Jewish, my father immigrated to Holland in 1933, where he became the managing director of the Dutch Opekta Company, which manufactures products used in making jam.
What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven't even happened yet.Collection: Wonderful
You can always give something, even if it is only kindness.Collection: Kindness
Our lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make our choices. Then our choices make us.Collection: Choices
What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening againCollection: Done
Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because the regret is stronger than gratitude.Collection: Inspirational
I believe in the sun, even when it rains.Collection: Happiness
Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness.Collection: Lying
Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.Collection: Inspirational
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. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.Collection: Believe
We can't control our destiny, but we can control who we become.Collection: Destiny
Where there's hope, there's life. It fills us with fresh courage and makes us strong again.Collection: Inspirational
You can always-always-give something, even if it's a simple act of kindness! If everyone were to give in this way and didn't scrimp on kindly words, there would be much more love and justice in the world!Collection: Kindness