Golda Meir

"Don't be so humble, you are not that great."

"One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present."

"Make the best of what you have."

"I have always believed that what good things we can do, we should do at once."

"We have always said that in our war with the Arabs the essential thing is to decide on the aim which is not only to defend ourselves and to sustain the attack."

"It has always been my feeling that God lends a hand to those who try to help themselves."

"I can honestly say that I was never affected by the question of the success of an undertaking."

"We must never forget that black existence in this world is about the oppressions of the many by the few."

"I have no use for people who give me money but give me their money like I'm supposed to grovel for it."

"Those who don't know how to weep with their whole heart don't know how to laugh either."

"At the end of the day, this is not a silly game we're playing here. It's our lives."

"I always say when people ask about the future, we are making our future every day."

"We don't thrive on military acts. We never wanted to be a nation of soldiers."

"Education is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility."

"Pessimism is a luxury that a Jew can never allow himself."

"You can't improve on goodbye."

"I became a feminist as an alternative to becoming a masochist."

"Trust yourself. When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life."

"Anybody who believes you can have infinite growth on a finite planet is either mad or an economist."

"I want to be remembered as someone who wanted to bring peace and stability to the region, to sunshine in the Middle East."

"Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful curse, a dreadful, dreadful curse and a blessed gift too."

"The Jews generally give value for what they take."

"I cannot compromise my values and keep my integrity."

"Whether women are better than men I cannot say, but I can say they are certainly no worse."

"Old age is not a disease - it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses."

"I have given orders to the fighting forces to cease."

"Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens."

"I have always been more interested in the future than in dwelling on the past."

"Discipline is not punishment - it is the foundation of freedom."

"There is no darkness without light, no good without evil."