"Land is the source of life and creation, of culture and true independence." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"It is only in Hebrew that you feel the full meaning of it — all the associations which a different word has." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"The State of Israel will prove itself not by material wealth, not by military might or technical achievement, but by its moral character and human values." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"The test of democracy is freedom to criticize." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"No city in the world, not even Athens and Rome, ever played as great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time, as Jerusalem has done in the life of the Jewish people." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"If a land has a soul, then Jerusalem is the soul of the Land of Israel." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"In Israel, in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles. " ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"Courage is a special kind of knowledge: the knowledge of how to fear what ought to be feared and how not to fear what ought not to be feared. " ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"Lord Samuel once said: “The Jews are like all other peoples, but with a certain plus”; the Zionists, too, in respect of the Land of Israel are like all Jews, but also plus something." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"The state of Israel represents and speaks only on behalf of its own citizens, and in no way presumes to represent or speak in the name of the Jews who are citizens of any other country." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"The Land made us a people." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"Tradition must be a spring-board into the future, not an arm-chair for repose." ~~ David Ben-Gurion