Quotes by Golda Meir

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

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

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

We only want that which is given naturally to all peoples of the world, to be masters of our own fate, not of others, and in cooperation and friendship with others.

Let me tell you the one thing I have against Moses. He took us forty years into the desert in order to bring us to the one place in the Middle East that has no oil!

There is no such thing as a Palestinian.

It is not a sin to be seventy but it is also no joke.

Being seventy is not a sin.

It isnt enough to believe in something; you have to have the stamina to meet obstacles and overcome them, to struggle.

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

Men are committing the rapes. Let them be put under curfew.

I don't want to have a bad influence on anybody, but there's no point in my giving up cigarettes now. I won't die young.

I'm sure that someday children in schools will study the history of the men who made war as you study an absurdity. They'll be shocked, just as today we're shocked with cannibalism.

We will not forgive you for making us kill your sons.

The world hates a Jew who hits back. The world loves us only when we are to be pitied.

The British went on fighting like lions against the Germans, the Italians, and the Japanese, but they couldn't or wouldn't stand up to the Arabs at all -- though much of the Arab world was openly pro-Nazi.

There is no Zionism except the rescue of Jews.

There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed.

I'm a slave to this leaf in a diary that lists what I must do, what I must say, every half hour.

I want to say to you, friends, that the Jewish community in Palestine is going to fight to the very end. If we have arms to fight with, we will fight with those, and if not, we will fight with stones in our hands.

It is not only a matter, I believe, of religious observance and practice. To me, being Jewish means and has always meant being proud to be part of a people that has maintained its distinct identity for more than 2,000 years, with all the pain and torment that has been inflicted upon it.

If only political leaders would allow themselves to feel, as well as to think, the world might be a happier place.

Don't become cynical. Don't give up hope. Don't believe that everything is judged only by expediency. There is idealism in this world. There is human brotherhood.

By the way, did you ever realize that if Moses would have turned right instead of left, we'd have had the oil, the Arabs would have had the sand?

Any one who speaks in favor of bringing the Arab refugees back must also say how he expects to take the responsibility for it, if he is interested in the state of Israel. It is better that things are stated clearly and plainly: We shall not let this happen.

How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to.

Zionism and pessimism are not compatible.

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

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

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.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.

Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.