Talk:Golda Meir

golda meir..what an amazing woman!

Source problems
Many of the quotations in the "Sourced" section aren't. It would be good if an editor more familiar with the subject located the sources for these quotations, or else moved them to the "Unsourced" section if the source cannot be found. 121a0012 06:44, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Unsourced

 * If you can provide a precise and verifiable source for any quote on this list please move it to.


 * A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.


 * Ability hits the mark where presumption overshoots and diffidence falls short.


 * As President Nixon says, presidents can do almost anything, and President Nixon has done many things that nobody would have thought of doing.


 * At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.


 * Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.


 * Being a grandmother, I'm certain we're going to have peace in the Middle East, for I know there are other grandmothers in Egypt, in Jordan and in Syria who also want their children to live.


 * Being seventy is not


 * Don't be humble. You aren't that great.
 * Variant: Don't be humble... you're not that great.


 * Glorious bouquets and storms of applause are the trimmings which every artist naturally enjoys.


 * 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.


 * Quoted first-hand in Way of Valor: A Biography of Golda Myerson (Myerson was Meir's last name during 1917-1956). --Hughh (talk) 20:00, 28 September 2016 (UTC)


 * I have given instructions that I be informed every time one of our soldiers is killed, even if it is in the middle of the night. When President Nasser leaves instructions that he is to be awakened in the middle of the night if an Egyptian soldier is killed, there will be peace.


 * I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.


 * In Israel, we read from right to left.
 * To Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State, who had written her that he considers himself 'an American first, Secretary of State second, and a Jew third'


 * 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.


 * Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you're aboard, there's nothing you can do.


 * One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.


 * The dog that trots about finds a bone.


 * The public history of modern art is the story of conventional people not knowing what they are dealing with.


 * There can be no doubt that the average man blames much more than he praises. His instinct is to blame. If he is satisfied he says nothing; if he is not, he most illogically kicks up a row.


 * There's no difference between one's killing and making decisions that will send others to kill. It's exactly the same thing, or even worse.


 * To be successful, a woman has to be much better at her job than a man.


 * We can forgive you for killing our sons. But we will never forgive you for making us kill yours.
 * To Anwar Sadat just before peace talks.


 * We only want that which is given naturally to all peoples...to be masters of our own fate.


 * Whether women are better than men I cannot say — but I can say they are certainly no worse.
 * Variant: Whether women are better than men I cannot say, but they are certainly no worse.


 * You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.


 * You'll never find a better sparring partner than adversity.


 * Your holiness, do you know what my earliest memory is? It is waiting for a pogrom in Kiev. Let me assure you that my people know all about real "harshness" and also that we learned all about the real mercy when we were being led to the gas chambers of the Nazis.
 * To Pope Paul VI after he commented that the Jews were behaving very harshly in their country.


 * 'I asked this question multiple times like a parrot and no one has answered [about] when they say that if we move to the 67 lines things will be OK. Gentlemen, where were we situated in 67? Did we not stand behind the 67 [border] lines? why then was there a war. After 56 the "Kadesh Operation" following torments of 4.5 months in the UN, we behaved like good boys. We evacuated Sinai, we evacuated Sharam El Sheik, Gaza, everything, so? What happened? Why was there a war on the 67 border? So this formula of peace in exchange for land, it sounds pretty, I think people that say it surely believe in it, but it is not true. This isn't what it is about. It is very possible that we will still need to fight in the future, since I don't believe that you can buy peace with territories. You can buy peace when the Arabs, or the Arab leaders will reach the conclusion that we cannot be terminated and they need to live with us'
 * Reflecting on her time as Prime Minister (Eve of Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana)September 1974)


 * How can we return the held territories? There is nobody to return them to.
 * News reports (8 March 1969)


 * I have faced difficult problems in the past but nothing like the one I'm faced with now in leading the country.
 * Speech when elected as the first female prime minister of Israel (1969)


 * [The Soviet government] is the most realistic regime in the world — no ideals.
 * Interview (7 October 1969)


 * The man of the Cross, who heads the church whose symbol is the Cross, under which Jews were killed for generations. I could not escape the feeling. It stuck with me. And he felt it — that a Jewess was sitting opposite him.
 * On an audience with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican (20 Januar 1973)


 * I never did anything alone. Whatever was accomplished in this country was accomplished collectively.
 * To Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat during his unprecedented visit to Israel (21 December 1977)

On assimilation?
Found this passage on the web:
 * “Golda Meir, who was Israel’s Prime Minister, said that any Jew who assimilates is essentially a partner to the Nazis’ work, since through assimilation you yourself are exterminating the continuation of the Jewish people.

Can this be verified? -Stevertigo (talk) 23:44, 6 June 2012 (UTC)

Disputed quote with early photo
I deleted the quote since it's disputed. The photo (cropped from a photo taken in 1904 or 1905, not 1914) isn't directly related to it.

Mcljlm (talk) 14:31, 3 November 2023 (UTC)


 * @Mcljlm: Thank you! disputed quotes should never appear so prominently on a quote page imo.
 * Did anyone check to see whether the photo was added after it was disputed or before? Ottawahitech (talk) 15:06, 3 November 2023 (UTC)
 * I didn't.
 * How can I inform whoever uploaded the photo of the date mentioned by https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/pgm/id/78/{the other date is from a news site}? Neither https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/File:Golda_Meir-Y.jpg nor https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Golda_Meir#/media/File:Golda_Meir-Y.jpg indicate that. Alternatively could I add a reference to it? How would I do that? Mcljlm (talk) 15:48, 3 November 2023 (UTC)
 * I see that this image appears on enwp as well. The caption there says: "Golda Mabovitch, before 1910". As far as changing any information on Commons, I don't know what procedures they use there, but there is a talk page associated with the file there, so maybe try that?
 * Looks like the quote was added to the disputed list on 18:27, 8 October 2023 by @IOHANNVSVERVS, who thankfully used the edit summary field with an appropriate comment that made it much easier to find. At that time the image was already in the article. Ottawahitech (talk) 03:19, 4 November 2023 (UTC)