Shimon Peres Quotes (176 Quotes)

We asked the workers to give up 25 percent of their salaries. Imagine! We asked the industrialists to freeze all costs, no matter what the inflation is.

Partly, because I became in charge of the Ministry of Defense when I was 29 years old, and my parents were still alive, both my father and my mother.

I was learning, as I did in the Ministry of Defense. I never knew, but I always learned.

I don't think that any of us have a better alternative and all of us believe if the Mitchell plan collapses we will be left without an alternative.

With the religious you can hardly negotiate. They think they have supreme permission to kill people and go to war.

In the new age we must be open, competitive, transparent, keep your decency, ... The Jewish people were not born to occupy the land of other people, it goes against everything we stand for.

To have an agreement, you have to sit with a piece of paper and write it down in small print. This did not yet happen, ... But as a general concept, we reached an understanding.

We are going to continue the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the territory, ... If it is completed, maybe we can see a ceasefire in the whole of the West Bank.

Football is a great contributor to the peace process, ... I think all of us are coming here with one message and that is peace has a future.

The Arab began to understand that is not poverty creating terror, but terror creating poverty. They are the victims of their own errors.

It is as much an internal battle within the whole Arab world as a conflict with Israel.

I worked with a group of people who argued day and night - professors, officials, the Minister of Finance - but there were decisions that I had to make.

If (the Palestinians) ask to meet, then I will say yes because we have to discuss how to stop terrorism, ... We said we would not negotiate under fire, but we can definitely talk about how to stop the fire.

I do believe his visit can have an impact on the peace process as well.

We call upon him (Arafat) to be responsible for the destiny of the Palestinians because if the Palestinians will be divided, time and time again, into different armed groups, they will be able to do nothing really.

Contrary to his father, he speaks foreign languages, ... He was educated abroad. He is aware that the world has changed.

We should take 4 or 5 per cent, and we shall give 4 or 5 per cent elsewhere ... in order to reach an agreement.

We are meeting today to show that nothing will hurt our ability or divert us from our path.

Who in the world will pay money (in international aid) or help the Palestinians if terrorism rules in the Gaza Strip

There were yesterday Monday some incidents, ... I hope that they will remain isolated and the attempt to continue the cease-fire will be extended and continued by all parties.

We see in the United States the leader of this campaign, and we shall not do anything that may frustrate or endanger the campaign itself ... We feel part and parcel of this campaign, and, if it should be asked, everything will be considered, seriously and positively.

Contrary to all other known weapons, (nuclear) bombs are not being handed over from one nation to another nation.

we would have been in big trouble -- a crisis.

Upon my return I shall announce it. In my eyes it's not a problem of parties but a problem of peace -- how to create a strong coalition for peace.

When you have two alternatives, the first thing you have to do is to look for the third that you didn't think about, that doesn't exist.

We are going to try for a while to reach a bilateral agreement.

There are already more Arabs than Jews living in the Galilee. It's unthinkable for Israel to engage in ethnic cleansing and expel Israeli Arabs. There's no room for savagery in international relations.

The demand today is about an international intervention, not a foreign presence, and about a large force. That changes the picture, ... I don't think they will be able to bring peace. Peace will result from direct talks.

The world is facing an unbelievable danger and we have to put aside secondary skirmishes.

The problem today is not if but when, ... and if they think we wait, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will change, and if he will change, it ... will be for the worse he will have more weapons.

Israel and the Palestinians must resume negotiations and stop the violence, ... Both must be done simultaneously -- it is very urgent.

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.

For us it really is a matter of to be or not to be. It is not a simple scope. And everyone that knows Israel knows that Israel is so far from being aggressive.

Clinton is the greatest charmer on the planet. What he is doing today is noble and global, ... I personally think we have to privatize peace. This conference is inviting global companies to help build a Palestinian state. You have to construct it.

I see an opportunity that we must not miss.

It was impossible to clap with one hand.

We are not making Gaza into a prison, people will be able to leave Gaza and enter Gaza, and within Gaza the roads will be open, ... Obviously, in all these cases we shall attend to Israel's security needs.

I think I was a good student, because I jumped over a school. My main interest was basically history and literature. Sports were basically basketball and swimming at a pool. I was so happy.

It's the first time that Saudi Arabia has taken an open position that calls for peace,

We will continue (the peace process) together.

If things emerge reasonably well in Gaza, then the door is open for further moves, wider decisions, ... have to take their own destinies in their own hand.

We make a peace appeal to the nuclear officials of Iran and urge them to abandon their nuclear intrigues.

He is speaking about a policy which is similar to the one that Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. adopted, ... And if the Palestinians will follow suit, will take those leaders and their policies as an example, they will win much more than by using arms, believe me.

I have a brother younger than me. My mother was a librarian, so from her, I got the taste to read.

We must submit a clear-cut request to the UN secretary general and the Security Council to obtain Iran's expulsion from the United Nations,

Israel's demands for a cessation of violence and terror and incitement which has not ceased.

For the first time in the history of the Palestinian people, they are being given the chance to rule completely a territory with defined borders,

Saddam Hussein is one of the greatest killers -- and a smart one -- around us. He endangers his own people. He endangers his neighbors. And he will not stop being a danger because this is his nature, and this is his position,

We don't intend to extend settlements, as I have said, and how to stop natural growth is a very difficult definition. I can hardly understand what it is. But I think this is a bridgeable position and I do not believe this should serve as a reason for introducing doubts and the value and the need to do it immediately. I think the alarm clock started to click again and we shouldn't fall asleep.

In order to monitor an agreement, you have to ... follow an agreement, ... If you have no agreement, what are they going to monitor.