The test of democracy is freedom of criticism.
David Ben-GurionRead
No city in the world, not even Athens or Rome, ever played as great a role in the life of a nation for so long a time, as Jerusalem has done in the life of the Jewish people.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Jerusalem has significantly impacted the identity and history of the Jewish people more than any other city.
David Ben-Gurion emphasizes the profound connection between the Jewish people and Jerusalem, noting that no other city has had such a lasting influence on their national identity and history. He highlights the central role of Jerusalem as a cultural, spiritual, and historical epicenter for the Jewish people throughout the ages, indicating that this relationship is unparalleled when compared to other ancient cities like Athens or Rome.
Themes
JerusalemJewish IdentityHistoryNationCulture
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about cultural heritage, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of Jerusalem.
More from David Ben-Gurion
All quotes →We offer peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Hebrew nation for the common good of all.
David Ben-GurionRead
Without moral and intellectual independence, there is no anchor for national independence.
David Ben-GurionRead
Anyone who believes you can't change history has never tried to write his memoirs.
David Ben-GurionRead
Those who today murdered our people in an ambush not only plotted to murder some Jews but intended to provoke us... The Arabs stand to gain from such a development. They want the country to be in a state of perpetual pogrom.... Any further bloodshed [by the Jews] will only bring political advantage to the Arabs and harm us... Our strength is in the defense... and this strength will give us political victory if England and the world will know that we are defending ourselves rather than attacking.
David Ben-GurionRead
After eighty, there are no enemies, only survivors.
David Ben-GurionRead
Similar quotes
The study of history reveals that human progress has not been continuous and regular, but intermittent and spasmodic, often depending upon apparently accidental causes. It is difficult to get a cross-section view of society at any given stage.
Charles A. BeardRead
When I first read Barbara Tuchman's 'The Guns of August' in the autumn of 1963, it was as though history went from black and white to Technicolor.
Margaret MacmillanRead
I was 21 and looking for work in 1932, one of the worst years of the Great Depression. And I can remember one bleak night in the thirties when my father learned on Christmas Eve that he'd lost his job. To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again.
Ronald ReaganRead
This above all makes history useful and desirable; it unfolds before our eyes a glorious record of exemplary actions.
LivyRead
Young women today often have very little appreciation for the real battles that took place to get women where they are today in this country. I don't know how much history young women today know about those battles.
Sandra Day O'ConnorRead
History suggests that the disillusioned and the disaffected do not readily take to the streets nor man the barricades to defend a system that failed to defend them.
David OlusogaRead