Cantina Quote o' The Week: Golda Meir

One cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present.

-Golda Meir

I had a hard time choosing one quote from Golda Meir to highlight.  She could be by turns witty, wry, or profound.  Some of my favorite quotes regarding war come from here, and I'll just share one of many here:

A leader who doesn't hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.

She was Prime Minister of Israel during the Yom Kippur War.  She spoke from experience.

Golda's one of those complex figures of history, neither perfect saint nor sinner.  She had her flaws, among them her tendency to dismiss Palestinians and their concerns outright for far too long.  But she was an iron-strong woman who fought like fury for her people, an incisive world leader who could call bullshit like no one else, and who never fell in love with war.  Just one final quote, then, which demonstrates that last:

It is true we have won all our wars, but we have paid for them. We don't want victories anymore.

Now if only more leaders could come to that conclusion, there might be no need for victories.