Quotes from Golda Meir

The Soviet government is the most realistic regime in the world — no ideals.

The British went on fighting like lions against the Germans, the Italians, and the Japanese, but they couldn't or wouldn't stand up to the Arabs at all – though much of the Arab world was openly pro-Nazi.

It has never ceased to astonish me that the Arab states have been so eager to go to war against us. Almost from the very beginning of Zionist settlement until today, they have been consumed by hatred for us.

Between the Mediterranean and the borders of Iraq, in what was once Palestine, there are now two countries, one Jewish and one Arab, and there is no room for a third. The Palestinians must find the solution to their problem together with that Arab country, Jordan, because a 'Palestinian state' between us and Jordan can only become a base from which it will be more convenient to attack and destroy Israel.

Anybody who believes in something without reservation believes that this thing is right and should be, has the stamina to meet obstacles and overcome them.

Men who have reached and passed forty-five, have a look as if waiting for the secret of the other world, and as if they were perfectly sure of having found out the secret of this.

A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

Can we today measure devotion to husband and children by our indifference to everything else?

Glorious bouquets and storms of applause are the trimmings which every artist naturally enjoys.

We don't thrive on military acts. We do them because we have to, and thank God we are efficient.

Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you are aboard there is nothing you can do.

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.

We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel.

Women's liberation is just a lot of foolishness. It's men who are discriminated against. They can't bear children. And no one is likely to do anything about that.

Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart do not know how to laugh either.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.

Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.

We only want that which is given naturally to all peoples of the world, to be masters of our own fate, not of others, and in cooperation and friendship with others.

By the way, did you ever realize that if Moses would have turned right instead of left, we'd have had the oil, the Arabs would have had the sand?

If we have to have a choice between being dead and pitied, and being alive with a bad image, we'd rather be alive and have the bad image.

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.

Zionism and pessimism are not compatible.

Don't be so humble - you are not that great.

Let me tell you the one thing I have against Moses. He took us forty years into the desert in order to bring us to the one place in the Middle East that has no oil!