Golda Meir Quotes (48 Quotes)

Being seventy is not a sin.

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

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!

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

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

Arab sovereignty in Jerusalem just cannot be. This city will not be divided-not half and half, not 60-40, not 75-25, nothing.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

The dog that trots about finds a bone.

At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.

Moses dragged us through the desert to the one place in the Middle East where there is no oil.

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

It's not an obsession, it's a devotion. My promise to her is to do this to the best of my ability. I told her, 'I will take care of you, I will honor you.'

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

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

The man of the Cross, who heads the church whose symbol is the Cross, under which Jews were killed for generations. I could not escape the feeling. It stuck with me. And he felt it-that a Jewess was sitting opposite him.

What do you gain, Soviet Union, from this miserable policy Where is your decency Would it be a disgrace for you to give up this battle

We will have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us

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.

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

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.

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

Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values.

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

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

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.

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.

Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

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

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

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

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

Moses dragged us for 40 years through the desert to bring us to the one place in the Middle East where there was no oil.

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.

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

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.

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

You can't improve on saying nothing.

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

My delegation cannot refrain from speaking on this question-we who have such an intimate knowledge of boxcars and of deportations to unknown destinations that we cannot be silent.

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.

Don't be humble... you're not that great.

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.