When it becomes a bloody reality, we have to come together and look at what can be done to return to the order of peace, ... There is no alternative to it.
David Ben-Gurion was a mythic figure, the founding father of Israel and a modern-day prophet, but he was also a real man who stormed through history on human legs. It was my great privilege to know him and work with him for many years.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on David Ben-Gurion's significant role in the establishment of Israel, highlighting both his legendary status and his humanity.
Shimon Peres expresses admiration for David Ben-Gurion, recognizing him as both a legendary leader and a relatable human being. This duality emphasizes the impact Ben-Gurion had on Israeli history while also acknowledging the vibrant, personal presence he maintained in the lives of those who worked with him. Peres' words suggest that great leaders are not just historical figures, but also individuals who walk among us, shaping our realities with their actions and decisions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech commemorating a national leader, I might quote Shimon Peres to illustrate the impact of great figures.
More from Shimon Peres
All quotes →I didn't plan to be a politician. The founder of our country, David Ben-Gurion, called me from the kibbutz to serve in the underground. We were short of manpower, short of arms. I was 24 years old. I was supposed to serve my country for one or two years. I am 89 years old this year, and I keep going.
The United States is the only power in history that became great by giving and not by taking. I think the crisis was when the United States had more money than ideas. Money doesn't produce money. Ideas produce money.
The problem of the Middle East is poverty more than politics.
The Iranian regime suppresses its own people as well as others in the region. It prevents peace by sponsoring terror globally. With the ultimate weapon that it is deceptively developing, the regime aims to gain hegemony over the entire Middle East and hold the world's economy hostage.
Early in the morning, I fell in love with the girl that later on became my wife. At that time, we were so naive. I wanted to charm her, so I read her Capital by Marx. I thought somehow she would be convinced by the strength of his criticism about capital.
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It is with deep grief I watch the clattering down of the British Empire with all its glories and all the services it has rendered to mankind.
It was necessary, as a black historian, to have a personal agenda.
The search for a Jewish national home came about due to centuries of anti-Semitic pogroms, expulsions, discrimination and hate. The Holocaust was simply the evil culmination of all that came before it.
Historians are to nationalism what poppy-growers in Pakistan are to heroin-addicts: we supply the essential raw material for the market.
Africans in the United States must remember that the slave ships brought no West Indians, no Caribbeans, no Jamaicans or Trinidadians or Barbadians to this hemisphere. The slave ships brought only African people and most of us took the semblance of nationality from the places where slave ships dropped us off.
One constant among the elements of 1914—as of any era—was the disposition of everyone on all sides not to prepare for the harder alternative, not to act upon what they suspected to be true.