The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.
David Ben-GurionRead
No city in the world, not even Athens or Rome, ever played as great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time, as Jerusalem has done in the life of the Jewish people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Jerusalem has significantly impacted the identity and history of the Jewish people more than any other city.
David Ben-Gurion emphasizes the profound connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, noting that no other city has had such a lasting influence on their national identity and history. He highlights the central role of Jerusalem as a cultural, spiritual, and historical epicenter for the Jewish people throughout the ages, indicating that this relationship is unparalleled when compared to other ancient cities like Athens or Rome.
Themes
JerusalemJewish IdentityHistoryNationCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about cultural heritage, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of Jerusalem.
More from David Ben-Gurion
All quotes →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-GurionRead
Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence.
David Ben-GurionRead
Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write his memoirs.
David Ben-GurionRead
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-GurionRead
After eighty, there are no enemies, only survivors.
David Ben-GurionRead
Similar quotes
After Nixon resigned in 1974, he engaged in a very aggressive war with history, attempting to wipe out the Watergate stain and memory. Happily, history won, largely because of Nixon's tapes.
Bob WoodwardRead
The Cold War was over long before it was officially declared dead.
John Le CarreRead
The deciphering of ancient scripts changed forever the way Europeans were able to imagine the story of humanity, destroying centuries of received authority about the past with repercussions as important for our understanding of time and history as the geological studies of the same period.
Neil MacgregorRead
The colonial period has been the proving ground in America for the new social history, which concentrates on the ordinary doings of ordinary people rather than on high culture and high politics. Unfortunately ordinary people, almost by definition, leave behind only faint traces of their existence.
Edmund MorganRead
One has to confront history honestly.
Wole SoyinkaRead
I never thought I'd see the day that I would see white folks as frightened, or more so, than black folks was during the civil rights movement when we was in Mississippi.
Dick GregoryRead