David Ben-Gurion

We must fight the war as though there were no White Paper, and fight the White Paper as though there were no war.

There is no solution! (to the conflict between Jews and Arabs).

I don't know any Arabs who would agree to Palestine being ours -- even if we learn Arabic ... and I have no need to learn Arabic.

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.

The concepts of 'ours' and 'not ours' are peace concepts, only, and in war they lose their [...].

There is no such thing as a Palestinian people.

The Bible is our mandate, the Bible which was written by us, in our own language, in this very country. This is our charter—our claim to the land.

We don’t want to be a nation of shopkeepers. We want to be a nation of pioneers.

The State of Israel will be tested not by its wealth, not by its army, but by its moral character and its human values.

Anyone who believes in the future of the Jewish people must believe in the State of Israel.

It is not the question of what the gentiles will say, but what the Jews will do.

We must do everything to ensure they [the Palestinians] never return.

We must absorb the Arabs of the Land of Israel into the Jewish state.

I am not a Jew. I am an Israeli.

When you have a choice between peace and war, choose peace. But when you have a choice between peace and justice, choose justice.

It is not enough to establish the state, we must build it.

The whole world is against us, but we will overcome.

We came to settle the land, not to conquer it.

We are a small people, but we have a great spirit.

Without security, there is no state.