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The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.

David Ben-Gurion

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David Ben-Gurion
Age: 87 †
Born: 1886
Born: October 16
Died: 1973
Died: December 1
Politician
Statesman
Trade Unionist
Dominion of Canada
David Grün
Ben-Gurion
Democracy
Freedom
Censorship
Feminism
Test
Tests
Criticism

More quotes by David Ben-Gurion

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We must assist the British in the war as if there were no White Paper and we must resist the White Paper as if there were no war.
David Ben-Gurion
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Israel will not discuss a peace involving the concession of any piece of territory. The neighboring states do not deserve an inch of Israel's land. . . . We are ready for exchange for peace.
David Ben-Gurion
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It is in the Negev that the creativity and pioneer vigor of Israel shall be tested.
David Ben-Gurion
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Let me first tell you one thing: It doesn't matter what the world says about Israel it doesn't matter what they say about us anywhere else. The only thing that matters is that we can exist here on the land of our forefathers. And unless we show the Arabs that there is a high price to pay for murdering Jews, we won't survive.
David Ben-Gurion
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We don't consider manual work as a curse, or a bitter necessity, not even as a means of making a living. We consider it as a high human function, as the basis of human life, the most dignified thing in the life of the human being, and which ought to be free, creative. Men ought to be proud of it.
David Ben-Gurion
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If I knew that it was possible to save all the children of Germany by transporting them to England, and only half by transferring them to the Land of Israel, I would choose the latter, for before us lies not only the numbers of these children but the historical reckoning of the people of Israel.
David Ben-Gurion
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From Jewish terrorism against Arabs it is a short step to Jewish terrorism against Jews.
David Ben-Gurion
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It is only in Hebrew that you feel the full meaning of it -- all the associations which a different word has.
David Ben-Gurion
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Referring to Palestinian refugees: We must do everything in our power to ensure that they never return.
David Ben-Gurion
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The great Jewish scientists and philosophers of the last few generations - Spinoza, Einstein, Freud, Robert Oppenheimer and others - were natives of Europe and America.
David Ben-Gurion
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Courage is... the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared.
David Ben-Gurion
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The past is our very being.
David Ben-Gurion
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We offer peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Hebrew nation for the common good of all.
David Ben-Gurion
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The acceptance of partition does not commit us to renounce Transjordan: one does not demand from anybody to give up his vision. We shall accept a state in the boundaries fixed today, but the boundaries of Zionist aspirations are the concern of the Jewish people and no external factor will be able to limit them.
David Ben-Gurion
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It's not a matter of maintaining the status quo. We have to create a dynamic state, oriented towards expansion.
David Ben-Gurion
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In the midst of wanton aggression, we still call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to return to the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, with full and equal citizenship and due representation in its bodies and institutions - provisional or permanent.
David Ben-Gurion
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Everybody sees a difficulty in the question of relations between Arabs and Jews. But not everybody sees that there is no solution to this question. No solution! There is a gulf, and nothing can bridge it... We, as a nation, want this country to be ours the Arabs, as a nation, want this country to be theirs.
David Ben-Gurion
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The State of Israel will prove itself not by material wealth, not by military might or technical achievement, but by its moral character and human values.
David Ben-Gurion
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We will make a great and awful mistake if we fail to settle Hebron, neighbor and predecessor of Jerusalem, with a large Jewish settlement, constantly growing and expanding, very soon. This will also be a blessing to the Arab neighbors. Hebron is worthy to be Jerusalem's sister.
David Ben-Gurion
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If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert.
David Ben-Gurion