Explore Quotes by David Ben-Gurion

To shatter even the largest stones on earth, it takes only a small quantity of explosive powder.

We must assist the British in the war as if there were no White Paper and we must resist the White Paper as if there were no war.

The law is whatever people determine it to be.

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.

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.

It is in the Negev that the creativity and pioneer vigor of Israel shall be tested.

The Arabs of the land of Israel [ Palestinians] have only one functionleft to them -- to run away.

What matters is not what the goyim say, but what the Jews do.

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?

We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinians] never do return. The old will die and the young will forget,

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.

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.

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. . . .

The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.

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.

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.

We do not wish and do not need to expel Arabs and take their places.

Courage is... the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.

Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write his memoirs.

In order to be a realist, you must believe in miracles.