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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
Freedom
Censorship
Feminism
Test
Tests
Criticism
Democracy

More quotes by 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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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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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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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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If an expert says it can't be done, get another expert.
David Ben-Gurion
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Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves ... politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves... The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.
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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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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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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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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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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No city in the world, not even Athens or Rome, ever played as great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time, as Jerusalem has done in the life of the Jewish people.
David Ben-Gurion
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After eighty, there are no enemies, only survivors.
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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The most dangerous enemy to Israel's security is the intellectual inertia of those who are responsible for security.
David Ben-Gurion
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Under no circumstances must we touch land belonging to fellahs or worked by them. Only if a fellah leaves his place of settlement, should we offer to buy his land, at an appropriate price.
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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To shatter even the largest stones on earth, it takes only a small quantity of explosive powder.
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