Shimon Peres quotes

Television has made dictatorship impossible but democracy unbearable. (Shimon Peres)
If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over time. View quote
Shimon Peres
The president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map. View quote
Shimon Peres
I will confine myself to reaffirming the Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region. View quote
Shimon Peres
Iran is a great problem, but not necessarily a great country. In fact, I think it is a very weak country. View quote
Shimon Peres
Until the Yom Kippur War, in 1973, until then Israel didn't have a chance but to fight for her life. We were attacked five times, outgunned, outnumbered, on a small piece of land, and our main challenge was to remain alive. View quote
Shimon Peres
If world is suspicious that Israel may detonate nuclear bomb and if the suspicion is a deterrent - that's good enough. View quote
Shimon Peres
Your majesty, the king of Saudi Arabia, I was listening to your message. I wish that your voice will become the prevailing voice of the whole region, of all people. It's right, it's needed, it's promising ... The initiative's portrayal of our region's future provides hope to the people and inspires confidence in the nations. View quote
Shimon Peres
There isn't a single person in Israel who wants to destroy or harm Egypt. In contrast, there's a whole country that openly wants to destroy Israel, and that's Iran. That is the difference between ours and Egypt's security problems. Egypt is not threatened by anyone. Israel is threatened by the second circle. Israel has never been and will never be a danger to Egypt. [...] Israel is not threatening Iran, Iran is threatening Israel. The situation is not similar. View quote
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. View quote
Shimon Peres
Bulgaria is a true friend of Israel, that stood up to save the Jewish people 70 years ago in Europe, and who stood by throughout the terror attack that took place in Burgas last July. (Shimon Peres)
When you have two alternatives, the first thing you have to do is to look for the third that you didn't think about, that doesn't exist. View quote
Shimon Peres
The older generation had greater respect for land than science. But we live in an age when science, more than soil, has become the provider of growth and abundance. Living just on the land creates loneliness in an age of globality. View quote
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. View quote
Shimon Peres
The borders will be based on 1967, with the required security modifications. If we take a certain percentage of the Palestinian land, we will compensate them with land. We will not rob their land. Sovereignty yes, but no one would threaten this Palestinian state, and therefore the Palestinians also agree that it can be demilitarized. When the threats on Israel would also cease, I hope that Israel could be demilitarized too. View quote
Shimon Peres
We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide [...] Israel should not determine a historical or philosophical position on the Armenian issue. If we have to determine a position, it should be done with great care not to distort the historical realities. View quote
Shimon Peres
Optimists and pessimists die the same way. They just live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist. View quote
Shimon Peres
India and Israel are co-operating on security and intelligence matters because we have a common enemy: terrorism. View quote
Shimon Peres
The way to make peace is not through governments. It is through people. View quote
Shimon Peres
I believe that peace with the Palestinians is most urgent - urgent than ever before. It is necessary. It is crucial. It is possible. A delay may worsen its chances. Israel and the Palestinians are, in my judgment, ripe today to restart the peace process. View quote
Shimon Peres
Peace with the Palestinians will open ports of peace all around the Mediterranean. The duty of leaders is to pursue freedom ceaselessly, even in the face of hostility, in the face of doubt and disappointment. Just imagine what could be. (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. View quote
Shimon Peres
I think peace should be done not only among governments but among people. It was impossible before the Facebook. View quote
Shimon Peres
For me, dreaming is simply being pragmatic. View quote
Shimon Peres
One of the most important branches of the Egyptian economy is tourism. No bikinis, no tourism. So they have to decide what to do. View quote
Shimon Peres