A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually.
– Abba Eban
Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.
– Abba Eban
His ignorance is encyclopedic.
– Abba Eban
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
– Abba Eban
I think that this is the first war in history that on the morrow the victors sued for peace and the vanquished called for unconditional surrender.
– Abba Eban
If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.
– Abba Eban
Israel is not an aviary.
– Abba Eban
It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
– Abba Eban
Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss.
– Abba Eban
The Jews are the living embodiment of the minority, the constant reminder of what duties societies owe their minorities, whoever they might be.
– Abba Eban
Time and again these governments have rejected proposals today-and longed for them tomorrow.
– Abba Eban
When I was first here, we had the advantages of the underdog. Now we have the disadvantages of the overdog.