"I worked with a group of people who argued day and night - professors, officials, the Minister of Finance - but there were decisions that I had to make."

"I believe that peace with the Palestinians is most urgent - urgent than ever before. It is necessary. It is crucial. It is possible. A delay may worsen its chances. Israel and the Palestinians are, in my judgment, ripe today to restart the peace process."

"My heart goes out to the brave citizens of Syria, who each day risk and even sacrifice their lives to achieve freedom from a murderous regime. We in Israel welcome the historic struggle to forge democratic, peace-loving governments in our region."

"In Israel, a land lacking in natural resources, we learned to appreciate our greatest national advantage: our minds. Through creativity and innovation, we transformed barren deserts into flourishing fields and pioneered new frontiers in science and technology."

"So when you put the kick in and the other runners go past you, it's game over!"

"Forgiveness is about empowering yourself, rather than empowering your past."

"I've been criticized for not having perspective in the past and I thought that of myself many times but not there."

"It was clear to me that the forms of consciousness of our inherited and acquired historical education - aesthetic consciousness and historical consciousness - presented alienated forms of our true historical being."