David Ben-Gurion Quotes

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David Ben-Gurion Famous Quotes

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There are eleven million Jews in the world. I don't say that all of them will come here, but I expect several million, and with natural increase I can quite imagine a Jewish state of ten million.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: There are eleven million Jews
The Arabs of the land of Israel [ Palestinians] have only one functionleft to them
to run away.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The Arabs of the land
Which are you first, a Jew or an American? A Jew.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Which are you first, a
We do not want to create a situation like that which exists in South Africa, where the whites are the owners and rulers, and the blacks are the workers. If we do not do all kinds of work, easy and hard, skilled and unskilled, if we become merely landlords, then this will not be our homeland
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: We do not want to
Ours is a country built more on people than on territory. The Jews will come from everywhere: from France, from Russia, from America, from Yemen ... Their faith is their passport.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Ours is a country built
Israel will not discuss a peace involving the concession of any piece of territory. The neighboring states do not deserve an inch of Israel's land ... We are ready for exchange for peace.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Israel will not discuss a
When a Jew, in America or in South Africa, talks to his Jewish companions about 'our' government, he means the government of Israel.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: When a Jew, in America
You must talk to us as equals, or not talk to us at all.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: You must talk to us
We have preserved the book, and the book has preserved us.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: We have preserved the book,
Those who today murdered our people in an ambush not only plotted to murder some Jews but intended to provoke us ... The Arabs stand to gain from such a development. They want the country to be in a state of perpetual pogrom ... Any further bloodshed [by the Jews] will only bring political advantage to the Arabs and harm us ... Our strength is in the defense ... and this strength will give us political victory if England and the world will know that we are defending ourselves rather than attacking.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Those who today murdered our
What matters is not what the goyim say, but what the Jews do.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: What matters is not what
If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: If an expert says it
A Christian state should be established [in Lebanon], with its southern border on the Litani river. We will make an alliance with it. When we smash the Arab Legion's strength and bomb Amman, we will eliminate Transjordan too, and then Syria will fall. If Egypt still dares to fight on, we shall bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo ... And in this fashion, we will end the war and settle our forefathers' account with Egypt, Assyria, and Aram.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: A Christian state should be
Since I invoke Torah so often, let me state that I don't personally believe in the God it postulates ... I am not religious, nor were the majority of the early builders of Israel believers. Yet their passion for this land stemmed from the Book of Books ... [The Bible is] the single most important book in my life.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Since I invoke Torah so
To be realistic, you have to believe in miracles.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: To be realistic, you have
Suffering makes a people greater, and we have suffered much. We had a message to give the world, but we were overwhelmed, and the message was cut off in the middle. In time there will be millions of us - becoming stronger and stronger - and we will complete the message.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Suffering makes a people greater,
The most dangerous enemy to Israel's security is the intellectual inertia of those who are responsible for security.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The most dangerous enemy to
The State of Israel will prove itself not by material wealth, not by military might or technical achievement, but by its moral character and human values.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The State of Israel will
Under no circumstances must we touch land belonging to fellahs or worked by them. Only if a fellah leaves his place of settlement, should we offer to buy his land, at an appropriate price.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Under no circumstances must we
Today the ministry of culture is the ministry of defense. A hundred thousand Jews are fighting for their people's freedom - that is the greatest human creation in our era. It will serve as a source for literature and art for generations to come. [Answering question, why the government had not set up a ministry of culture]
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Today the ministry of culture
The assets of the Jewish National Home must be created exclusively through our own work, for only the product of the Hebrew labor can serve as the national estate.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The assets of the Jewish
The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as a war.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The Arabs will have to
The present map of Palestine was drawn by the British mandate. The Jewish people have another map which our youth and adults should strive to fulfill: from the Nile to the Euphrates.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The present map of Palestine
Thought is a strenuous art - few practice it, and then only at rare times.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Thought is a strenuous art
If the antisemites want to hate, let them hate, and let them go to hell.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: If the antisemites want to
Let me first tell you one thing: It doesn't matter what the world says about Israel; it doesn't matter what they say about us anywhere else. The only thing that matters is that we can exist here on the land of our forefathers. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won't survive.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Let me first tell you
The past is our very being.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The past is our very
To shatter even the largest stones on earth, it takes only a small quantity of explosive powder.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: To shatter even the largest
The law is whatever people determine it to be.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The law is whatever people
This life as a simple citizen and laborer has its benefits not only for the person himself but perhaps also for his country. After all, there is room for only one Prime Minister, but for those who make the desert bloom there is room for hundreds, thousands and even millions. And the destiny of the state is in the hands of the many rather than of a single individual. There are times when an individual feels he should do those things which only can and should be done by the many.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: This life as a simple
The trebling of the population in this small and impoverished country, flowing with milk and honey but not with sufficient water, rich in rocks and sand dunes but poor in natural resources and vital raw materials, has been no easy task: Indeed, practical men, with their eyes fixed upon things as they are, regarded it as an empty and insubstantial utopian dream.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The trebling of the population
Referring to Palestinian refugees: We must do everything in our power to ensure that they never return.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Referring to Palestinian refugees: We
If I was an Arab leader I would never make [peace] with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: If I was an Arab
I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: I were an Arab leader,
If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children in Germany by bringing them over to England and only half of them by transporting them to Eretz Israel, then I opt for the second alternative.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: If I knew that it
Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves ... politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves ... The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Let us not ignore the
After eighty, there are no enemies, only survivors.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: After eighty, there are no
Everybody sees a difficulty in the question of relations between Arabs and Jews. But not everybody sees that there is no solution to this question. No solution! There is a gulf, and nothing can bridge it ... We, as a nation, want this country to be ours; the Arabs, as a nation, want this country to be theirs.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Everybody sees a difficulty in
In the land of Israel was born the Jewish nation. There came an order to kill the religious and social spirit of the people ... And after the nation turned back to its land with strength, it protected it steadfastly ...
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: In the land of Israel
We regard it as our duty to declare that Jewish Jerusalem is an organic and inseparable part of the State of Israel, as it is an inseparable part of the history of Israel, of the faith of Israel.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: We regard it as our
We should prepare to go over to the offensive. Our aim is to smash Lebanon, Trans-Jordan and Syria. The weak point is Lebanon, for the Moslem regime is artificial and easy for us to undermine. We shall establish a Christian state there and then we will smash the Arab Legion, eliminate Trans-Jordan; Syria will fall to us. We then bomb and move on and take Port Said, Alexandria and Sinai.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: We should prepare to go
Terrorism benefits the Arabs, it may lay waste the Yishuv and shake Zionism. But to follow in the Arabs' footsteps and ape their deeds is to be blind to the gulf between us. Our aims and theirs run counter: methods calculated to further theirs, are ruinous to us.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Terrorism benefits the Arabs, it
The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The test of democracy is
The great Jewish scientists and philosophers of the last few generations - Spinoza, Einstein, Freud, Robert Oppenheimer and others - were natives of Europe and America.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: The great Jewish scientists and
Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Courage is a special kind
From Jewish terrorism against Arabs it is a short step to Jewish terrorism against Jews.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: From Jewish terrorism against Arabs
Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: Without moral and intellectual independence,
We must do everything to insure they [the Palestinians] never do return ... The old will die and the young will forget.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: We must do everything to
We offer peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Hebrew nation for the common good of all.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: We offer peace and neighborliness
If I knew that it was possible to save all the children of Germany by transporting them to England, and only half by transferring them to the Land of Israel, I would choose the latter, for before us lies not only the numbers of these children but the historical reckoning of the people of Israel.
David Ben-Gurion Quotes: If I knew that it
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