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

As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing.
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 must govern the clock, not be governed by it.
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

Not being beautiful was the true blessing. Not being beautiful forced me to develop my inner resources. The pretty girl has a handicap to overcome.
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