A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.
– Golda Meir
Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short.
– Golda Meir
Above all, this country is our own. Nobody has to get up in the morning and worry what his neighbors think of him. Being a Jew is no problem here.
– Golda Meir
Arab sovereignty in Jerusalem just cannot be. This city will not be divided-not half and half, not 60-40, not 75-25, nothing.
– Golda Meir
Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.
– Golda Meir
Being seventy is not a sin.
– Golda Meir
Don't be humble... you're not that great.
– Golda Meir
Fashion is an imposition, a reign on freedom.
– Golda Meir
Glorious bouquets and storms of applause are the trimmings which every artist naturally enjoys.
– Golda Meir
I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking. If I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it regardless of the possible outcome.
– Golda Meir
I don't know why you use a fancy French word like detente when there's a good English phrase for it-cold war.
– Golda Meir
I have given instructions that I be informed every time one of our soldiers is killed, even if it is in the middle of the night. When President Nasser leaves instructions that he is to be awakened in the middle of the night if an Egyptian soldier is killed, there will be peace.
– Golda Meir
I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.
– Golda Meir
It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don't want victories anymore.
– Golda Meir
It's no accident many accuse me of conducting public affairs with my heart instead of my head. Well, what if I do? Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either.
– Golda Meir
Let me tell you something that we Israelis have against Moses. He took us 40 years through the desert in order to bring us to the one spot in the Middle East that has no oil!
– Golda Meir
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.
– Golda Meir
My delegation cannot refrain from speaking on this question-we who have such an intimate knowledge of boxcars and of deportations to unknown destinations that we cannot be silent.
– Golda Meir
Not till the fire is dying in the grate, Look we for any kinship with the stars. Oh, wisdom never comes when it is gold, And the great price we paid for it full worth: We have it only when we are half earth. Little avails that coinage to the old!
– Golda Meir
Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you're aboard, there's nothing you can do.
– Golda Meir
One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.
– Golda Meir
Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself.
– Golda Meir
The dog that trots about finds a bone.
– Golda Meir
The Egyptians could run to Egypt, the Syrians into Syria. The only place we could run was into the sea, and before we did that we might as well fight.
– Golda Meir
The man of the Cross, who heads the church whose symbol is the Cross, under which Jews were killed for generations. I could not escape the feeling. It stuck with me. And he felt it-that a Jewess was sitting opposite him.
– Golda Meir
The public history of modern art is the story of conventional people not knowing what they are dealing with.
– Golda Meir
The Soviet government is the most realistic regime in the world - no ideals.
– Golda Meir
There can be no doubt that the average man blames much more than he praises. His instinct is to blame. If he is satisfied he says nothing; if he is not, he most illogically kicks up a row.
– Golda Meir
There's no difference between one's killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It's exactly the same thing, or even worse.
– Golda Meir
To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don't be.
– Golda Meir
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.
– Golda Meir
We do not rejoice in victories. We rejoice when a new kind of cotton is grown and when strawberries bloom in Israel.
– Golda Meir
We don't thrive on military acts. We do them because we have to, and thank God we are efficient.
– Golda Meir
We have always said that in our war with the Arabs we had a secret weapon - no alternative.
– Golda Meir
What do you gain, Soviet Union, from this miserable policy? Where is your decency? Would it be a disgrace for you to give up this battle?
– Golda Meir
Whether women are better than men I cannot say - but I can say they are certainly no worse.
– Golda Meir
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.
– Golda Meir
You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.
– Golda Meir
We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours.
– Golda Meir
To be successful, a woman has to be much better at her job than a man.