"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
"1948, a year of uniqueness and blessing, which will shine always upon the life of every one of us, and its light will blaze in Jewish history for ever and ever." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"The worse deceit is self-deceit." ~~ David Ben-Gurion
"Thought is a strenuous art — few practice it, and then only at rare times." ~~ David Ben-Gurion