Abba Eban Quotes

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

  Abba Eban

  Topics in History, Wisdom

  Tags in Wisely

• 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

  Topics in History, Uncategorized

  Tags in Peace, War

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

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Statesman, Movement, Ground

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

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Experience

  Tags in Opposite, Political

• A consensus means that everyone agrees to say collectively what no one believes individually.

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Believe, Consensus

• Consensus is what many people say in chorus but do not believe as individuals.

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Consensus, Believe, Chorus

• Better to be disliked than pitied.

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Dislike

• His ignorance is encyclopedic.

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Ignorance

• If Algeria introduced a resolution declaring 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Resolution, Earth, Pass

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Rejection, Tragedy

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in World, Distinction, Prove

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Living, Minority, Societies

• Time and again these governments have rejected proposals today – and longed for them tomorrow.

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Time, Proposals

• You can’t achieve anything without getting in someone’s way.

  Abba Eban

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Getting, Way

Abba Eban (14)

Birth:	2nd February, 1915
Death:	17th November, 2002
Nationality:	Israeli
Profession:	Diplomat, Politician

About

Abba Eban was born South Africa, on 2 February 1915, Eban moved to the United Kingdom at an early age. As a child, he recalled being sent to his grandfather's house every weekend to study the Hebrew language and Biblical literature. He lived for a period of time in Belfast. Abba Eban was an Israeli diplomat and politician. In his career he was Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister, Education Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and ambassador to the United States and to the United Nations. He was also Vice President of the United Nations General Assembly and President of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

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