Abba Eban Quotes & Sayings

There is no difference whatever between anti-Semitism and the denial of Israel's statehood. Classical anti-Semitism denies the equal right of Jews as citizens within society. Anti-Zionism denies the equal rights of the Jewish people its lawful sovereignty within the community of nations. The common principle in the two cases is discrimination.
New York Times, 1975 — Abba Eban

His ignorance is encyclopedic. — Abba Eban

If Algeria introduced a resolution that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions. — Abba Eban

Lest Arab governments be tempted out of sheer routine to rush into impulsive rejection, let me suggest that tragedy is not what men suffer but what they miss. — Abba Eban

A nation writes its history in the image of its ideal. — Abba Eban

Nobody does Israel any service by proclaiming its 'right to exist.' Israel's right to exist, like that of the United States, Saudi Arabia and 152 other states, is axiomatic and unreserved. Israel's legitimacy is not suspended in midair awaiting acknowledgement ... There is certainly no other state, big or small, young or old, that would consider mere recognition of its 'right to exist' a favor, or a negotiable concession. — Abba Eban

History teaches us
that men and nations
only behave wisely
once they have exhausted
all other alternatives.
— Abba Eban

I think that this is the first war in history that on the morrow the victors sued for peace and the vanquished called for unconditional surrender. — Abba Eban

Men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all the other alternatives. — Abba Eban

Zionism is nothing more, but also nothing less, than the Jewish People's sense of origin and destination in the Land linked eternally with its name. It is also the instrument whereby the Jewish Nation seeks an authentic fulfillment of itself. — Abba Eban

Time and again these governments have rejected proposals today - and longed for them tomorrow. — Abba Eban

Science is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don't worship it. Feed it.
[Addressing a group of prospective contributors to an Israeli scientific research program] — Abba Eban

Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. — Abba Eban

It [idolatry] nourishes mans ambition to domineer over his fellow man. Idolatry, therefore, is the source of all social and moral evil in the world. — Abba Eban

A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually. — Abba Eban

Our intention to regard the closing of the Straits as a casus belli was communicated ... to the foreign ministers of those states which had supported international navigation in the Straits in 1957 and thereafter. There can be no doubt that these warnings reached Cairo. One thing was now clear. If Nasser imposed a blockade, the explosion would ensue not from 'miscalculation', but from an open-eyed and conscious readiness for war. — Abba Eban

Better to be disliked than pitied. — Abba Eban

Salvation, the prophets tell us, is preconditioned by repentance. The redeeming act of God waits upon man's initiative. — Abba Eban

Playing the game I have learned the meaning of humility. It has given me an understanding of futility of the human effort. — Abba Eban

Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals. — Abba Eban

It is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say. — Abba Eban

Tragedy is the difference between what is and what could have been. — Abba Eban

Israel is not an aviary. — Abba Eban

Human beings act intelligently only after they have exhausted the alternatives — Abba Eban

One of the chief tasks of any dialogue with the Gentile world is to prove that the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all. — Abba Eban

You can't achieve anything without getting in someone's way. — Abba Eban

The Jews are the living embodiment of the minority, the constant reminder of what duties societies owe their minorities, whoever they might be. — Abba Eban

A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement. — Abba Eban