The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.
David Ben-GurionRead
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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of peace, cooperation, and communal benefit among nations.
David Ben-Gurion's quote advocates for a peaceful coexistence and collaborative efforts with neighboring nations for mutual benefit. It reflects a commitment to diplomacy and unity among diverse peoples, proposing that the independent Hebrew nation seeks to contribute positively to regional relationships and the welfare of all involved.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about international relations.
The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.
Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence.
Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write his memoirs.
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.
After eighty, there are no enemies, only survivors.
We do not want to create a situation like that which exists in South Africa, where the whites are the owners and rulers, and the blacks are the workers. If we do not do all kinds of work, easy and hard, skilled and unskilled, if we become merely landlords, then this will not be our homeland
β¦the samurai ethic is a political science of the heart, designed to control such discouragement and fatigue in order to avoid showing them to others. It was thought more important to look healthy than to be healthy, and more important to seem bold and daring than to be so. This view of morality, since it is physiologically based on the special vanity peculiar to men, is perhaps the supreme male view of morality.
No one's death comes to pass without making some impression, and those close to the deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and become richer in their humanness.
And there is the headlight, shining far down the track, glinting off the steel rails that, like all parallel lines, will meet in infinity, which is after all where this train is going.
I have an idea heaven will be both absolutely happy and absolutely dark, to protect us from the blaze of God.
In England I am not English, in India I am not Indian. I am chained to the 1,000 square miles that is Trinidad; but I will evade that fate yet.
Consider no one a stranger. Learn to feel that everybody is akin to you.
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