Shimon Peres: «The bigger your dream, the more you will achieve»

However, a variety of statements by Peres have been quoted for many years. And the point is not only in his oratory or the ability to find bright aphoristic formulations. More importantly, all these inspiring aphorisms are tested and confirmed by his own experience. Perez was called a lucky loser — so often he suffered crushing defeats and at the same time never gave up, maintaining faith in himself even in hopeless situations and eventually emerging victorious. And that’s where his optimism is based.

The potential of all people is very big. But they are all a little lazy. If you want to achieve something, you have to work. Nothing falls from the sky. We worked very hard in Israel. What’s bad about it? I don’t know… People go on vacation, it’s a waste of time. I’m already 90 and I’ve never been on vacation. They say to me: “Are you crazy? How do you rest? But I prefer to work. I get joy from work. And don’t be pessimistic — this is also a waste of time, especially when times change.

You have to follow the science. Science has no boundaries, limitations, science has no reflection. Don’t try to solve the problems of the past, I don’t know if that’s even possible. The past doesn’t matter at all. Just learn it so you don’t repeat old mistakes. In the past there is no future, no hope.

• Winston Churchill, who has no equal

Most people prefer to remember rather than imagine — this is the biggest mistake. What do you want to remember? All the mistakes that have been made? History cannot be relied upon. Historians were the heralds of kings and those who were in power — they said what was needed.

People are afraid of something … Only God knows what will happen to us.

I am sometimes asked: looking back, what were your biggest mistakes? I will answer: we thought we had great dreams. And now we understand that they were not so great. Dream big. The bigger your dream, the more you will achieve.

…People ask me how to stay active. It’s very simple. Count your achievements and dreams in your mind. If you have more dreams than achievements, then you are still young. Otherwise, you are old.

People ask me if I am an optimist or a pessimist. My answer: optimists and pessimists die the same way, but live differently. And if I can offer people, then I would offer to live like optimists.

• Columbus of the third age

I don’t know where people get energy from to spend their days in idleness and laziness. I find that working is much more interesting than being lazy. The Lord God has given each of us 350 million minutes to live. And a person needs to decide what to do with all these minutes. You can waste them. But I think self-discipline is about not wasting time. After all, fatigue is also a psychological phenomenon. I don’t get tired. I have no psychological fatigue, because there is no end to my curiosity, my curiosity. I do not have time to satisfy my curiosity — but, you see, the day is over. Therefore, I am sure that a person should work, think, create. In addition to everything you have listed during my presidency, I have also written two books: one has already been published, and the second book will soon be released. For me, it’s a pleasure, a pleasure. Instead of going to the seaside and taking a dip in the water, I prefer to read books and immerse myself in wisdom.

I never dreamed of becoming a politician or even the head of government. I don’t know if a person’s desire to dominate other people is a good thing. I believe that the desire to make people’s lives better is preferable. And since I began to be aware of my actions, I prefer to do good, to contribute to the common cause, to be useful to people, to help them, but not to rule over them.

• Work that makes us happier

For 65 years I worked in the administrative structures of the State of Israel, I was a minister on several occasions, and I was also the head of the Israeli government. Do you know what I put the most effort into? To prevent friction between people. People quarrel with each other all the time — one administration quarrels with another, an officer does not get along with a colleague. And I had to calm everyone down. But now I’m not the head of government, I don’t have a «apparatus», as they say. I have no friction either, I have time now. A citizen, having received an order in the past, expressed his dissatisfaction, got angry — today, when I turn to him with a request, I immediately hear the answer: “Yes! I’ll do it!»

What does it say? Only that people are ready with all the desire to do good to their neighborvolunteering to provide any assistance. Most people feel uncomfortable when they need to dominate others. My conclusion: one should appeal to those who are voluntarily ready to do good deeds. If you ask first graders in elementary school to do something, you will be surprised to find their willingness to respond to the request. They sometimes behave like savages, but it is worth asking them — and everything changes for the better.

• Can a successful leader be humble?

Therefore, experienced leaders have long understood that good will is a real power. More powerful than physical strength. And you also need to understand: generosity is power. When you give, you make many friends; when you take, you make many enemies. And enemies will always cost you much more than friends. And I came to the conclusion: if you want to be a leader, then you must serve, not rule. The task of a leader is to help, not to command. The leader must be able to listen to the person, to understand what he wants. For the world is not only global, it is also very individual. A person wants to have not only freedom of speech, but also freedom of expression. And, no matter how difficult it may be, we are obliged in this world to combine the global with the individual. Individuality is when you carefully listen to a person, and global is what you see around you.

The animal hears, feels, sees like a human. They say that it even remembers, for example, the memory of an elephant. But there is one thing that an animal does not have, but a person has — this is a dream. This is a vision of the future. Each of us must look forward, not backward. The world is changing at a tremendous speed. And no one can issue an order to stop these changes. What nonsense. We are just now discovering life.

• Can you turn the page and start a new life?
• What type of charisma do you have?
• Do you believe in your inner strength?