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Tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.

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
Suffer
Miss
Tragedy
Missing
Suffering
Men
Impulsive
Sheer
Routine

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The Jews are the living embodiment of the minority, the constant reminder of what duties societies owe their minorities, whoever they might be.
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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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History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
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If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.
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Tragedy is the difference between what is and what could have been.
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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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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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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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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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A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal.
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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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Human beings act intelligently only after they have exhausted the alternatives
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His ignorance is encyclopedic.
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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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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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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 consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually.
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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.
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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