The Jewish Wisdom Database

Two kings cannot wear the one crown.

The first condition a community should set, if it aspires to be a nation, is to own the land whereon it lives, and supply its own needs.

A law must have a moral basis so that there is an inner compelling urge for every citizen to obey.

If you see a generation of lying ways, know that the rulers provoke it!

Sometimes it is not the office that makes the man but the man that makes the office.

The past lays a railroad track for the future.

The future of a nation is in its past.

Peace cannot be kept by force, but through understanding.

If your brother becomes poor, you shall maintain him.

Who closes his ears to the cry of the poor will himself cry out and not be heard.

The poor of your own town should be preferred to those of another.

When the president enters, all rise and none sits until he says: 'Be seated!'

Israel's salvation will come through prophets and not through diplomats.

No nation is redeemed of its troubles unless it redeems itself by its own powers.

The State binds and compels, religion teaches and persuades; the State gives laws, religion gives commandments.

A town without schoolchildren is doomed to destruction.

When the shepherd goes astray, his sheep stray after him.

Silence means consent.

To look for absolute justice among politicians, that is charming simplicity!

There is no proxy in transgression. [The sinner cannot shift the blame to his employer.]

And there was famine in the land---why so? Because Israel and their judges did not judge truly.

The hardest thing in the world to understand, is income tax.

Communism is like one big phone company.

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever.