Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.
ABBA EBANHistory teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
More Abba Eban Quotes
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Human beings act intelligently only after they have exhausted the alternatives
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Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its ‘right to exist.’ Israel’s right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved.
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One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all.
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You can’t achieve anything without getting in someone’s way. You can’t be detached and effective.
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History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
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Israel is not an aviary.
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The Jews are the living embodiment of the minority, the constant reminder of what duties societies owe their minorities, whoever they might be.
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Tragedy is the difference between what is and what could have been.
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Salvation, the prophets tell us, is preconditioned by repentance. The redeeming act of God waits upon man’s initiative.
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It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
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Science is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don’t worship it. Feed it. [Addressing a group of prospective contributors to an Israeli scientific research program]
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A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal.
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It [idolatry] nourishes mans ambition to domineer over his fellow man. Idolatry, therefore, is the source of all social and moral evil in the world.
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Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort.
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Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
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