Theodor Herzl
journalist, lawyer, writer, politician, playwright, literary critic
Read on Wikipedia1860 – 1904
All Quotes by Theodor Herzl
“It goes without saying that the Jewish people can have no other goal than Palestine and that, whatever the fate of the proposition may be, our attitude toward the land of our fathers is and shall remain unchangeable.”
“Palestine is our unforgettable historic home. The very name would be a force of marvelous potency for summoning our people together.”
“What We want is to make it possible for our unfortunate people to live a life of industry for it is by steady work alone that we hope for our physical and moral rehabilitation. For this reason above all we have undertaken to rally our people around our ideal.”
“Were I to sum up the Basel Congress in a word — which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly — it would be this: At Basel, I founded the Jewish State. If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. Perhaps in five years, certainly in fifty, everyone will know it.”
“If you will, it is no legend...”
“... Let me tell you that my friend and I do not discriminate between humans. We do not ask what race or what religion he is from. He has to be a human being. That is all that's important for us.”
“The anti-Semites will become our most dependable friends, the anti-Semitic countries our allies. We want to emigrate as respected people.”
“Realists are, as a rule, only men in the rut of routine who are incapable of transcending a narrow circle of antiquated notions.”
“Some may say we ought not to bring up new differences between people; we ought not to raise new borders, we should rather make the old ones disappear. But men who think in this way are endearing dreamers; and the idea of a native land will still flourish when the dust of their bones will have vanished tracelessly in the winds. Universal brotherhood is not even a beautiful dream. Antagonism is essential to man's greatest efforts.\xa0”
“...When we sink, we become a revolutionary proletariat, but when we rise, there rises also our terrible power of the purse.”
“If anyone thinks that Jews can steal into the land of their fathers, he is deceiving either himself or others. Nowhere is the coming of Jews so promptly noted as in the historic home of the Jews, for the very reason that it is the historic home.”
“Philanthropic colonization is a failure. National colonization will succeed.”