A statesman who keeps his ear permanently glued to the ground will have neither elegance of posture nor flexibility of movement.
Abba EbanIt is our experience that political leaders do not always mean the opposite of what they say.
Abba EbanIf 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 EbanOur intention to regard the closing of the Straits as a casus belli was communicated...to the foreign ministers of those states which had supported international navigation in the Straits in 1957 and thereafter. There can be no doubt that these warnings reached Cairo. One thing was now clear. If Nasser imposed a blockade, the explosion would ensue not from 'miscalculation', but from an open-eyed and conscious readiness for war.
Abba Eban