The Diary of a Young Girl Quotes

I’d like to live that seemingly carefree and happy life for an evening, a few days, a week. At the end of that week I’d be exhausted, and would be grateful to the first person to talk to me about something meaningful.

No one can keep out of conflict, the entire world is at war, and even though the allies are doing better, the end is nowhere in sight.

Not being able to go outside upsets me more than I can say, and I’m terrified our hiding place will be discovered and that we’ll be shot. That, of course, is a fairly dismal prospect.

Every child has to raise itself.’ Parents can only advise their children or point them in the right direction.

I don’t dare do anything anymore, ’cause I’m afraid it’s not allowed.

There's only one thing to remember: laugh at everything and forget everybody else!

And whoever is happy will make others happy too. He who has courage and faith will never perish in misery!

People who flush easily become even more agitated when they feel themselves getting hot under the collar, and they quickly lose to their opponents.

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.

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

It's hard to tell the truth, and yet the truth is that she's the one who's rejected me.

If God lets me live, I’ll achieve more than Mother ever did, I’ll make my voice heard, I’ll go out into the world and work for mankind!

As long as this exists," I thought, "and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy.

I have now reached the stage that I don't care much whether I live or die. The world will still keep turning without me; what is going to happen, will happen, and anyway it's no good to resist. I will trust luck and do nothing but work, hoping that all will end well.

I was suffocating even before we left the house, but no one bothered to ask me how I felt.

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.

Later on, when you’re older, you won’t be able to enjoy anything any more. You’ll say, Oh, I read that twenty years ago in some book. You’d better hurry if you want to catch a husband or fall in love, since everything is bound to be a disappointment to you. You already know all there is to know in theory. But in practice? That’s another story!

I have an intense need to be alone.

This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

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

I know what I want, I have a goal, I have opinions, a religion and love. If only I can be myself, I'll be satisfied.

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. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of Nature.

No one must know that my heart and mind are constantly at war with each other. Up till now reason has always won the battle, but will my emotions get the upper hand? Sometimes I fear they will, but more often I actually hope they do!

We just wanted to get out of there, to get away and reach our destination in safety. Nothing else mattered.

You seem it's the silence that makes me so nervous during the evenings and nights.

The warehouse cat was always the aggressor, while the attic cat was ultimately the victor, just as in politics.

There is a saying that, paper is more patient than man.

It is impossible for me to be all sugar one day and spit venom the next. I'd rather choose the golden mean (which is not so golden), keep my thoughts to myself, and try for once to be just as disdainful to them as they are to me. Oh, if only I could!

Margot is very kind and would like me to confide in her, but I can’t tell her everything. She takes me too seriously, far too seriously, and spends a lot of time thinking about her loony sister, looking at me closely whenever I open my mouth and wondering, Is she acting, or does she really mean it?

At any rate, Daddy usually comes to my defence. Without him I wouldn't be able to stick out here.

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

We're so selfish that we talk about "after the war" and look forward to new clothes and shoes, when actually we should be saving every penny to help others when the war is over, to salvage whatever we can.

Peter needs tenderness. For the first time in his life he’s discovered a girl; for the first time he’s seen that even the biggest pests also have an inner self and a heart, and are transformed as soon as they’re alone with you.

Crying can bring such relief.

I condemn myself in so many ways that I’m beginning to realize the truth of Father’s adage: Every child has to raise itself. Parents can only advise their children or point them in the right direction. Ultimately, people shape their own characters.

This of all the misery in the world and be thankful that you are not sharing in it.

By now I can recognize the women at a glance...with faces that are either grimor good-humored, depending on the mood of their husbands.

Make the most of your carefree young life as you can.

I'm afraid my common sense, which was in short supply to begin with, wil be used up too quickly and I won't have any left by the time the war is over.

It's obvious that I'm a stranger to her; she doesn't even know what I think about the most ordinary things.

Yes, paper does have more patience, and since I’m not planning to let anyone else read this stiff-backed notebook grandly referred to as a diary, unless I should ever find a real friend, it probably won’t make a bit of difference.

We, who fill our stomachs with nothing but boiled lettuce, raw lettuce, spinach, spinach and more spinach. Maybe we'll end up being as strong as Popeye, though so far I've seen no sign of it!

I don’t believe the war is simply the work of politicians and capitalists. Oh no, the common man is every bit as guilty; otherwise, people and nations would have rebelled long ago!

One of the many questions that have often bothered me is why women have been, and still are, thought to be so inferior to men. It’s easy to say it’s unfair, but that’s not enough for me; I’d really like to know the reason for this great injustice!

The world’s been turned upside down. The most decent people are being sent to concentration camps, prisons and lonely cells, while the lowest of the low rule over young and old, rich and poor.

It's just that when you're standing beside an open window at twilight, you can say more toeach other than in bright sunshine. It's also easier to whisper your feelings than toshout them from the rooftops.

Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.

I see the eight of us in the Annexe as if we were a patch of blue sky surrounded by menacing black clouds.

As long as this exists,' I thought, 'and I may live to see it, this sunshine. the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy.

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