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" The Middle East is ailing. The malady stems from pervasive violence, shortages of food, water and educational opportunities, discrimination against women and - the most virulent cause of all - the absence of freedom. "

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" Today, the people are governing the governments. And when they begin to talk to each other, they are surprised, they can be friends. Why should we hate each other? "

Shimon Peres

Why

Friends

Hate

" Look, we have existed for 4,000 years - 2,000 years in diaspora, in exile. Nobody in the Middle East speaks their original language but Israel. When we started 64 years ago, we were 650,000 people. So, you know, we are maybe swimming a little bit against the stream, but we continue to swim. "

" David Ben-Gurion was a mythic figure, the founding father of Israel and a modern-day prophet, but he was also a real man who stormed through history on human legs. It was my great privilege to know him and work with him for many years. "

" For me, dreaming is simply being pragmatic. "

Shimon Peres

Pragmatic

Simply

" I knew that the most important thing a man has is in his head, and from a young age, I often studied the head structure of each person, hoping to crack his codes. I considered a high forehead a gift from God. "

" The wars we fought were forced upon us. Thanks to the Israel Defense Forces, we won them all, but we did not win the greatest victory that we aspired to: release from the need to win victories. "

" Israel has its attractions. It's the most dramatic country in the world. Everybody's engaged. Everybody argues. When I leave Israel, I get a little bit bored, you know? "

" He was the editor of our paper. He created the publishing house in Hebrew. He was - I wouldn't say the 'guru' - but really he was our teacher and a most respected man. I wrote for the paper of the youth movement. "

" 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. "

" The problem of the Middle East is poverty more than politics. "

Shimon Peres

Middle

Politics

" It is not rifles but people who triumph, and the conclusion from all the wars is that we need better people, not better rifles - to win wars, and mainly to avoid them. "

" You know when civilization began? With the invention of the mirror. "

" In the Middle East, the conflict today is a matter of generations and not of cultures. "

" We have to stand together against terror and the reasons for terrorism, which are poverty and ignorance. "

" 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. "

" Television has made dictatorship impossible but democracy unbearable. "

" I have the highest respect for Obama. I have worked with 10 American presidents, both Republicans and Democrats. As far as Israeli security is concerned, he has done the most that an American president can do. "

" They thought that I was a man with reasonable judgment, so I was never under pressure from my parents; I could do whatever I wanted. I never had a negative word from them, nothing whatsoever. "

" 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. "

" That was my first lesson from Ben-Gurion. Then I saw him making peace, and I saw him making war. He mobilized me before the war. The man was a very rare combination between a real intellectual and a born leader. There is a contradiction between the two. "

Shimon Peres

Peace

War

" I worked with a group of people who argued day and night - professors, officials, the Minister of Finance - but there were decisions that I had to make. "

" You know who is against democracy in the Middle East? The husbands. They got used to their way of life. Now, the traditional way of life must change. Everybody must change. If you don't give equal rights to women, you can't progress. "

" What is wrong with the Iranians in addition to the nuclear bomb? This is the only country on Earth in the 21st century that has renewed imperialistic ambitions. They really want to become the hegemon of the Middle East in an age that gave up imperialism. "

" The uprising in Egypt was initiated by the young generation. The uprising achieved two things. One is it made the lives of dictators impossible. Today, if you are looking for a safe job, don't become a dictator. "

" There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary. "

Shimon Peres

Who

Saying

" For 60 years, I was the most controversial figure in the country, and suddenly, I'm the most popular man in the land. Truth be told, I don't know when I was happier: then or now. "

" I have a brother younger than me. My mother was a librarian, so from her, I got the taste to read. "

Shimon Peres

Brother

Her

" My family's dream, and my own, was to live in Israel, and our eventual voyage to the port of Jaffa was like making a dream come true. Had it not been for this dream and this voyage, I would probably have perished in the flames, as did so many of my people, among them most of my own family. "

" My greatest mistake is that my dreams were too small. "

" I thought all my life that optimists and pessimists pass away the same way, so why be a pessimist? "