The United States is the only power in history that became great by giving and not by taking. I think the crisis was when the United States had more money than ideas. Money doesn’t produce money. Ideas produce money. – Shimon Peres
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. – Shimon Peres
Now, I learned soon enough, that among the three, two don’t trust the third one – the third one is the government. Both industry and unions feel the government is a talking organization and a spending organization. – Shimon Peres
As president, I was more successful; I had more opportunity than as prime minister. Why? I didn’t have the power to give orders, to command, but I had the opportunity to call people to volunteer. In my period of presidency, I never heard the word ‘no.’ – Shimon Peres
Early in the morning, I fell in love with the girl that later on became my wife. At that time, we were so naive. I wanted to charm her, so I read her Capital by Marx. I thought somehow she would be convinced by the strength of his criticism about capital. – Shimon Peres
Poverty and ignorance, which beget terror, are not eradicated by firing artillery shells. Borders do not stop rockets, and barbed wire does not prevent terror. – Shimon Peres
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. – Shimon Peres
I have a brother younger than me. My mother was a librarian, so from her, I got the taste to read. – Shimon Peres
Bringing an end to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians may help the young Arab generation to realise their aspirations. Israel is more than willing to offer our experience in building a modern economy in spite of limited resources to the whole region. – Shimon Peres
I think peace should be done not only among governments but among people. It was impossible before the Facebook. – Shimon Peres
And in England there has always been something deeply pro-Arab, of course, not among all Englishmen, and anti-Israeli, in the establishment. They abstained in the 1947 UN partition resolution… They maintained an arms embargo against us in the 1950s… They always worked against us. They think the Arabs are the underdogs. – Shimon Peres
He was the editor of our paper. He created the publishing house in Hebrew. He was – I wouldn’t say the ‘guru’ – but really he was our teacher and a most respected man. I wrote for the paper of the youth movement. – Shimon Peres
Look, Israel doesn’t intend to introduce nuclear weapons, but if people are afraid that we have them, why not? It’s a deterrent. – Shimon Peres
There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary. – Shimon Peres
That was my first lesson from Ben-Gurion. Then I saw him making peace, and I saw him making war. He mobilized me before the war. The man was a very rare combination between a real intellectual and a born leader. There is a contradiction between the two. – Shimon Peres
My heart goes out to the brave citizens of Syria, who each day risk and even sacrifice their lives to achieve freedom from a murderous regime. We in Israel welcome the historic struggle to forge democratic, peace-loving governments in our region. – Shimon Peres
They thought that I was a man with reasonable judgment, so I was never under pressure from my parents; I could do whatever I wanted. I never had a negative word from them, nothing whatsoever. – Shimon Peres
The uprising in Egypt was initiated by the young generation. The uprising achieved two things. One is it made the lives of dictators impossible. Today, if you are looking for a safe job, don’t become a dictator. – Shimon Peres
I dreamed of a future as a muscular, tanned, kibbutznik, who plowed the fertile fields of the Jezreel Valley in the day, sang religiously in the dining hall in the evening, and fiercely guarded the farmland at night, riding a noble horse. – Shimon Peres
If I tax them, in fact, I’m not taxing the capitalists, I am taxing the people who have saved, trusted. It was very controversial, those sorts of things. But finally, it worked out. – Shimon Peres
One of the things the United States does well is building coalitions. What the U.S. knows is that if you don’t have a coalition with you, you will have a coalition against you. I don’t want to see China and Russia on the side of Iran more strongly than they are. – Shimon Peres
The Iranian regime suppresses its own people as well as others in the region. It prevents peace by sponsoring terror globally. With the ultimate weapon that it is deceptively developing, the regime aims to gain hegemony over the entire Middle East and hold the world’s economy hostage. – Shimon Peres
I worked with a group of people who argued day and night – professors, officials, the Minister of Finance – but there were decisions that I had to make. – Shimon Peres
We asked the workers to give up 25 percent of their salaries. Imagine! We asked the industrialists to freeze all costs, no matter what the inflation is. – Shimon Peres
