They say in the Middle East a pessimist is simply an optimist with experience.

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

Since the Six-Day War, the whole world, which is the real arena of battle between us and the Palestinians, believes that Israel is right in regard to procedure, namely problems and disputes should be solved around the negotiating table.

In Israel, generally speaking, politics is much more familiar than any other place. We all know each other.

As long as in this territory west of the Jordan river there is only one political entity called Israel, it is going to be either non-Jewish or non-democratic. If this bloc of millions of Palestinians cannot vote, that will be an apartheid state.

I don't think that the Iranians, even if they got the bomb, they're going to drop it immediately on some neighbor. They fully understand what might follow. They're radical, but not total mishuginas.

War is no picnic. Wars should be prevented, and if you can't prevent them, you have to put them off.

To think that you can - as a Zionist, Jewish independent state at the end of the 20th century - rule over another people for generations without having any consequences - it's ridiculous.

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.

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

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 do not believe the efforts of the international community to stop Iran's nuclear program will bear fruit.

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

I cannot penetrate the soul of Arafat. I cannot know in advance whether, behind all the masks, he's the kind of leader who can reach an agreement or whether he wants to be the Moses of the Palestinians, staying in front of the river and not crossing into the promised land.

ISIS has never fought a real battle.

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.

International legitimacy is a fundamental source of power for Israel nowadays.

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.

Either we destroy world terror or world terror will destroy us.

Saddam Hussein has set an example of defiance, especially against the first President Bush, that other Arab leaders cannot and should not emulate; the example leads only to empty gestures and developmental stagnation, both of which the Arab nations have had enough of already.

I delivered lectures, and I was also a consultant for international companies in finance, both private equity and big venture capital funds.

Israel is the strongest nation in the Middle East, but we have to apply our strength wisely.

If Israel does not find the way to disengage from the Palestinians, its future might resemble the experience of Belfast or Bosnia - two communities bleeding each other to death for generations.

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

Sometimes you have to subordinate strategic considerations to tactical needs.

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

I don't feel opportunistic ever, in anything.

If I were a Palestinian of the right age, I'd eventually join one of the terrorist organizations.

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

It's the role of a government to defend its soldiers and its citizens.

There is no entity in the world that will dare attack Israel with chemical weapons.

I'm in the government to make sure that if there's an opportunity to make peace, it won't be missed.

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.

Iran poses the most serious long-term threat to regional stability.

We want peace, but not at any price.

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

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

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.

The red line must be drawn on Iran's nuclear enrichment program because these enrichment facilities are the only nuclear installations that we can definitely see and credibly target.

Yes, the world is short of perfect.

History never repeats itself in the same way.

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

Israel is much more effective when the Israelis are convinced that we are on the moral high ground: that we are acting not just out of might, but also out of right.

In Israel, there is a peace camp that can convene 200,000 people in central square of this city, on very short notice, and there is a major movement among academics, politicians, thinkers, and public leaders for peace, even at a painful price. On the Palestinian side, you can find them individually here and there, but there is no public movement.

Assad wanted Israel to capitulate in advance to all his demands. Only then would he agree to enter into substantive negotiations. I couldn't agree to this.

I am the Israeli leader who met most with Arafat.

Israel fits into the zeitgeist of our era. It is true that there are demographic threats to its existence. That is why a separation from the Palestinians is a compelling imperative.

I think first of all that Iran is a problem for the whole world.

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 fought against Palestinians. I saw them.