Golda Meir Quotes

One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.

Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.

We don’t thrive on military acts. We do them because we have to, and thank God we are efficient.

The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight.

Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!

We Jews have a secret weapon in our struggle with the Arabs; we have no place to go.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.

I don’t know why you use a fancy French word like detente when there’s a good English phrase for it – cold war.

A leader who doesn’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

Women’s liberation is just a lot of foolishness. It’s men who are discriminated against. They can’t bear children. And no one is likely to do anything about that.

We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon – no alternative.

I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.

It’s no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do? Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either.

Whether women are better than men I cannot say – but I can say they are certainly no worse.

Above all, this country is our own. Nobody has to get up in the morning and worry what his neighbors think of him. Being a Jew is no problem here.

There can be no doubt that the average man blames much more than he praises. His instinct is to blame. If he is satisfied he says nothing; if he is not, he most illogically kicks up a row.

Being seventy is not a sin.

I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.

Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.

We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel.

It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don’t want victories anymore.

To be successful, a woman has to be much better at her job than a man.

Don’t be humble… you’re not that great.

Those who don’t know how to weep with their whole heart, don’t know how to laugh either.

You’ll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.

The dog that trots about finds a bone.

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.

To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don’t be.

There’s no difference between one’s killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It’s exactly the same thing, or even worse.

Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.

Even paranoids have real enemies.

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing.

The public history of modern art is the story of conventional people not knowing what they are dealing with.

Glorious bouquets and storms of applause are the trimmings which every artist naturally enjoys.

Men who have reached and passed forty-five, have a look as if waiting for the secret of the other world, and as if they were perfectly sure of having found out the secret of this.

Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short.

The Soviet government is the most realistic regime in the world – no ideals.