The older generation had greater respect for land than science. But we live in an age when science, more than soil, has become the provider of growth and abundance. Living just on the land creates loneliness in an age of globality.

Israel is a start-up nation, and I think it can be done in other places. I will do it outside the government. I don't need the government.

I am a president who also gives pardons. Usually my considerations are humane.

The internet, Facebook and Twitter have created mass communications and social spaces that regimes cannot control.

Most of the Palestinians don't understand what they're doing... Politically, people can say what they want. The problem is not political, but religious.

You know who is against democracy in the Middle East? The husbands. They got used to their way of life. Now, the traditional way of life must change. Everybody must change. If you don't give equal rights to women, you can't progress.

He taught me literature, and he actually taught me how to read. He was my personal mentor.