“My dear, old age is like an airplane flying in a storm. Once you’re in it there’s nothing you can do. You can’t stop a plane, you can’t stop a storm, you can’t stop time. So you might as well take it easy, with wisdom.”

I’m a slave to this leaf in a diary that lists what I must do, what I must say, every half hour.

A leader who doesn’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

If only political leaders would allow themselves to feel, as well as to think, the world might be a happier place.

It’s no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do?.. Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either.

The only alternative to war is peace and the only road to peace is negotiations.

Whether women are better than men I cannot say – but I can say they are certainly no worse.

There is only one thing I hope to see before I die, and that is that my people should not need expressions of sympathy anymore.

It isn’t enough to believe in something; you have to have the stamina to meet obstacles and overcome them, to struggle.

It is not a sin to be seventy but it is also no joke.

We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs; we have no place to go.

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don’t want victories anymore.

Zionism and pessimism are not compatible.

Can we today measure devotion to husband and children by our indifference to everything else?

We only want that which is given naturally to all peoples of the world, to be masters of our own fate, not of others, and in cooperation and friendship with others.