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A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.

Abba Eban

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Abba Eban
Age: 87 †
Born: 1915
Born: February 2
Died: 2002
Died: November 17
Diplomat
Historian
Politician
Writer
Cape Town
South Africa
Aba Eban
Abba Even
Abba Eben
Aubrey Solomon Meir
Aubrey Solomon Meir Eban
Aubrey Eban
Flexibility
Elegance
Keeps
Ground
Glued
Ears
Statesman
Neither
Permanently
Movement
Posture
Statesmen

More quotes by Abba Eban

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Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
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Salvation, the prophets tell us, is preconditioned by repentance. The redeeming act of God waits upon man's initiative.
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Israel is not an aviary.
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It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
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Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort.
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One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all.
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Human beings act intelligently only after they have exhausted the alternatives
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Zionism is nothing more, but also nothing less, than the Jewish People's sense of origin and destination in the Land linked eternally with its name. It is also the instrument whereby the Jewish Nation seeks an authentic fulfillment of itself.
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It [idolatry] nourishes mans ambition to domineer over his fellow man. Idolatry, therefore, is the source of all social and moral evil in the world.
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You can't achieve anything without getting in someone's way. You can't be detached and effective.
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Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
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Science is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don’t worship it. Feed it. [Addressing a group of prospective contributors to an Israeli scientific research program]
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A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal.
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I think that this is the first war in history that on the morrow the victors sued for peace and the vanquished called for unconditional surrender.
Abba Eban
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Tragedy is the difference between what is and what could have been.
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Tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
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A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually.
Abba Eban
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His ignorance is encyclopedic.
Abba Eban
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Better to be disliked than pitied.
Abba Eban
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Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.
Abba Eban