Excerpts from the Diary of Anne Frank

On her Diary -

"Hence, this diary. In order to enhance in my mind's eye the picture of the friend for whom I have waited so long, I don't want to set down a series of bald facts in a diary like most people do, but I want this diary itself to be my friend, and I shall call my friend, Kitty.

June 20, 1942

On her faith in Humanity -

"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 are really good at heart."

July 15, 1944

On Friendship -

"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're sincere?"

March 7, 1944

On her Hopes -

"It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. 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."

July 15, 1944

"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. I'll just let matters take their course and concentrate on studying and hope that everything will be all right in the end."

February 3, 1944

"If God lets me live, I shall attain more than Mummy ever has done, I shall not remain insignificant, I shall work in the world and for mankind!"

April 11, 1944

"I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore, I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me."

April 4, 1944

"In the meantime, I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out."

July 15, 1944

On her Despair -

"...but the minute I was alone I knew I was going to cry my eyes out. I slid to the floor in my nightgown and began by saying my prayers, very fervently. Then I drew my knees to my chest, lay my head on my arms and cried, all huddled up on the bare floor. A loud sob brought me back down to earth..."

April 5, 1944

On Happiness -

"Riches can be lost, but that happiness in your own heart can only be veiled, and it will still bring you happiness again, as long as you live. As long as you can look fearlessly up into the heavens, as long as you know that you are pure within, and that you will still find happiness."

February 23, 1944

On Holland -

"I love Holland. I who, having no native country, had hoped that it might become my fatherland, and I still hope it will!"

May 22, 1944

On Religion -

"Poor boy, he's never known what it feels like to make other people happy, and I can't teach him that either. He has no religion, scoffs at Jesus Christ, and swears using the name of God; although I am not orthodox either, it hurst me every time I see how deserted, how poor he really is."

July 6, 1944

"To give me something new to begin with as well, Daddy asked Koophuis for a children's Bible so I could find out something about the New Testament at last."

November 3, 1943

"People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things."

July 6, 1944