Quotes from Shimon Peres

reputation of power is power.

Why do you trust that boy?" I would overhear them asking. His answer was always the same. "Three reasons," he would say. "He doesn't lie. He doesn't say bad things about other people. And when he knocks on my door, he usually has a new idea.

My greatest hope is that our children, like our forefathers, will continue to plow the historical Jewish furrow in the field of the human spirit; that Israel will become the center of our heritage, not merely our homeland; and that the Jewish people will both be inspired by others and a continued source of inspiration.

more. I got my life as a gift. I'll give it up without an overdraft. Every once in a while, someone will ask me to look back on my career and identify the achievement in my life of which I am proudest. I respond by telling them the story of a great painter, who was once approached by an admirer of his art. "Which

we will need to release terrorists," I wrote one night during the coming drama, "Israel will look like a rag, and even worse, she will be one.

How did we start up a nation from nothing and transform it into a nation of start-ups? The answer lies in a paradox: having nothing was at once our greatest challenge and our greatest blessing of all.

On the day I took office, the annual inflation rate in Israel had reached a horrific 400 percent.

a paz não só é possível, como é inevitável. O otimismo que sinto é função não apenas da minha identidade, mas da História. A História, afinal, é um poderoso antídoto para uma visão cínica do mundo.

Precisamos de líderes que acreditem que o mundo pode ser mudado não com mortes ou disparos, mas pela criação e pela competição. Líderes que prefiram ser controversos pelas razões certas, em vez de populares pelas erradas, líderes que usem a imaginação mais do que a memória.

it's not enough to be up to date. We have to be up "to-morrow.

The bigger the dreams and aspirations a person has, the younger he is!

Failing honestly and with integrity was something I could accept—but only if I was sure that my efforts to succeed had been worthy of the trust he had placed in me.

I have the highest respect for Obama. I have worked with 10 American presidents, both Republicans and Democrats. As far as Israeli security is concerned, he has done the most that an American president can do.

For me, dreaming is simply being pragmatic.

You know who is against democracy in the Middle East? The husbands. They got used to their way of life. Now, the traditional way of life must change. Everybody must change. If you don't give equal rights to women, you can't progress.

The signing of the Israel-PLO accord is more than a political milestone. It is a transformative event which touches every Jewish family - physically, emotionally, spiritually.

In Israel, a land lacking in natural resources, we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds. Through creativity and innovation, we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology.

Israel has its attractions. It's the most dramatic country in the world. Everybody's engaged. Everybody argues. When I leave Israel, I get a little bit bored, you know?

Israel's doors are open to collaboration with Bulgaria.

My goal in life was to serve my people, and the most important service for the Jewish people is building the land, and the basics of building the people and the country is working the land.

There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary.

I knew that the most important thing a man has is in his head, and from a young age, I often studied the head structure of each person, hoping to crack his codes. I considered a high forehead a gift from God.

The present Arab uprising didn't stem from Israel. The old guard is trying to keep down the young chickens. The old guard is better organized. They may win elections, but unless they have a solution to poverty, to corruption, to oppression, they will not last. I am with the young people.

I have a brother younger than me. My mother was a librarian, so from her, I got the taste to read.