I’m no wealthier than Bibi Netanyahu or Arik Sharon. I don’t feel that I’m more hedonistic than Ehud Olmert, or Yitzhak Rabin or Shimon Peres.

I became a prime minister within four-and-a-half years, the shortest kind of career ever in Israeli political history.

I am the Israeli leader who met most with Arafat.

I tend not to believe radical Muslim movements.

I don’t hate people. I just accept missions.

An independent, strong, thriving and peaceful State of Israel is the vengeance of the dead.

Israel will continue to act proactively to prevent the transfer of heavy missiles or advanced air defense systems from Syria to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which, of course, carries the risk of a military showdown.

You can easily justify to anyone about the need to keep supporting Israel. We get very generous support. We need it.

The Labor party under my leadership is working to bring the Israeli people together from all nationalities in the spirit of the scroll of independence.

There is a thin line between peace of the brave and peace of the hostage… between compromise – even calculated risk – and irresponsibility and capitulation.

Ladies and gentlemen, the relevant question is not when Iran will get the bomb. The relevant question is at what stage can we no longer stop Iran from getting the bomb.

Benjamin Netanyahu seems to avoid any initiative.

I’m not a tycoon or anything like that. Does my property amount to several million dollars? Of course it does.

There is a perception across the Middle East that America is weakened. I believe the perception is wrong. The United States remains the world‘s mightiest military, economic and diplomatic power by far, with reach and abilities beyond rival.

I think that Jordan is strong. I think that they will hold on. I believe that they’ve already opened their parliament and their system, the press and others, to many voices… And I hope and wish that they will remain stable for a long time.

When an army doesn’t want to fight, you don’t need much experience to win.

Yes, the world is short of perfect.

Leadership can change its mind; leadership can open its eye. Leadership can even be replaced.

The first intifada, I was then commander of Central Command, commanding the West Bank, basically. And I know to what extent the first intifada was a popular uprising.

Try to think for your own why the Russians and the Chinese do not like the idea that whoever takes aggressive steps to keep order within his sovereign borders should not accept others to intervene physically.

I am confident the Obama administration will work professionally with any Israeli government.

Russians in top positions always told me, ‘We don’t want to deal with our allies the way that the Americans dealt with Mubarak,’ which is a very live example in the minds of many.

The Islamization process in Arab countries is very disturbing.

Iran sees India, China, Pakistan and, allegedly, Israel around them with nuclear weapons.

The Syrian rebels, weakened by infighting, have also been victims of the growing rift between the U.S. and its closest Arab allies.

A strong, responsible Israel can become a stabilizer in such a turbulent region.

Hezbollah will support Assad to the end because his continuing hold on power is critical to its own survival.

I’m such a failed politician that all of my rivals have disappeared, on both sides.

At this place, Jews have prayed throughout the generations, and it is fitting that the message of brotherhood should go out from here.

The Middle East is a region where predictions go to die.

As prime minister, I was the Israeli leader who walked the greatest distance in his offers to the Palestinians.

I have acquired – some would say deservedly – quite a few rivals: former Israeli politicians, some of whom at their height were stars beloved by large parts of the public. But today, they aren’t in politics, and when they sit alone in their room, they say to themselves that Barak is the one who showed them out the door.

Israel’s secret services are allowed to profile.

The Left is acting like a young child, saying ‘I want peace’… A child says ‘I want candy right away,’ an adult takes all of the factors into account and understands who he‘s dealing with.

I’m not afraid of elections. I’ve won every election I’ve fought in.

Prime Minister Menachem Begin ordered the destruction of an Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad in 1981. This action delayed an Iraqi bomb by at least 15 years. The whole world condemned Israel – only to realize later how farsighted it had been.

We are living in an open world. There is a freedom of speech and, clearly, freedom of speculation.

The Israel legendary foreign minister, Abba Eban, used to say that the Palestinians had never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

The Palestinian Authority cannot hold the stick at both ends: to incite violence, to participate in it, and to tell the world how – what kind of underdog they are.

I don’t do anything to impress anyone, quite successfully I can tell you.