Shimon Peres quotes

Shimon Peres was an Israeli statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who played a key role in the country’s politics for decades. A prominent architect of the Oslo Accords, he greatly influenced Israel’s pursuit of peace with its neighbors. He dedicated his life to public service and advancing technological innovation. Here are 58 of his quotes:

If a problem has no solution, it may not be a problem, but a fact, not to be solved, but to be coped with over time.

Shimon Peres

The president of Iran should remember that Iran can also be wiped off the map.

Shimon Peres

I will confine myself to reaffirming the Israel will not be the first country to introduce nuclear weapons to the region.

Shimon Peres

Iran is a great problem, but not necessarily a great country. In fact, I think it is a very weak country.

Shimon Peres

Until the Yom Kippur War, in 1973, until then Israel didn't have a chance but to fight for her life. We were attacked five times, outgunned, outnumbered, on a small piece of land, and our main challenge was to remain alive.

Shimon Peres

If world is suspicious that Israel may detonate nuclear bomb and if the suspicion is a deterrent - that's good enough.

Shimon Peres

Your majesty, the king of Saudi Arabia, I was listening to your message. I wish that your voice will become the prevailing voice of the whole region, of all people. It's right, it's needed, it's promising ... The initiative's portrayal of our region's future provides hope to the people and inspires confidence in the nations.

Shimon Peres

There isn't a single person in Israel who wants to destroy or harm Egypt. In contrast, there's a whole country that openly wants to destroy Israel, and that's Iran. That is the difference between ours and Egypt's security problems. Egypt is not threatened by anyone. Israel is threatened by the second circle. Israel has never been and will never be a danger to Egypt. [...] Israel is not threatening Iran, Iran is threatening Israel. The situation is not similar.

Shimon Peres

My heart goes out to the brave citizens of Syria, who each day risk and even sacrifice their lives to achieve freedom from a murderous regime. We in Israel welcome the historic struggle to forge democratic, peace-loving governments in our region.

Shimon Peres

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.

Shimon Peres

The older generation had greater respect for land than science. But we live in an age when science, more than soil, has become the provider of growth and abundance. Living just on the land creates loneliness in an age of globality.

Shimon Peres

In Israel, a land lacking in natural resources, we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds. Through creativity and innovation, we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology.

Shimon Peres

The borders will be based on 1967, with the required security modifications. If we take a certain percentage of the Palestinian land, we will compensate them with land. We will not rob their land. Sovereignty yes, but no one would threaten this Palestinian state, and therefore the Palestinians also agree that it can be demilitarized. When the threats on Israel would also cease, I hope that Israel could be demilitarized too.

Shimon Peres

We reject attempts to create a similarity between the Holocaust and the Armenian allegations. Nothing similar to the Holocaust occurred. It is a tragedy what the Armenians went through but not a genocide [...] Israel should not determine a historical or philosophical position on the Armenian issue. If we have to determine a position, it should be done with great care not to distort the historical realities.

Shimon Peres

Optimists and pessimists die the same way. They just live differently. I prefer to live as an optimist.

Shimon Peres

India and Israel are co-operating on security and intelligence matters because we have a common enemy: terrorism.

Shimon Peres

The way to make peace is not through governments. It is through people.

Shimon Peres

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.

Shimon Peres

The Iranian regime suppresses its own people as well as others in the region. It prevents peace by sponsoring terror globally. With the ultimate weapon that it is deceptively developing, the regime aims to gain hegemony over the entire Middle East and hold the world's economy hostage.

Shimon Peres

I think peace should be done not only among governments but among people. It was impossible before the Facebook.

Shimon Peres

For me, dreaming is simply being pragmatic.

Shimon Peres

One of the most important branches of the Egyptian economy is tourism. No bikinis, no tourism. So they have to decide what to do.

Shimon Peres