"You are wrong. The state and its existence are essential before everything else. All this preoccupation with liberty is not serious."

“While I am alive, not a hair on Jewish heads will be touched.”

“How many times, have I had to seat women whom I received at audiences next to me, rather than facing me, in order to avoid general embarrassment? Nothing should compel us to suffer such trials. It puts the nerves of men and the modesty of women to a severe test.”

“We have the proof that our disagreement with the U.A.R. is more than a simple misunderstanding.”

“The only Jews who interest us are our fellow citizens. ... Basically and profoundly, we are with the West.”

“Yes, I am Western, and I will remain so.”

“I do not think that the time is right to talk about democracy in its absolute concept. Arab societies marginalized their modern thinkers and scholars for the elders who stopped their time before fourteen centuries, which is the difference between us and them .. Therefore, it was necessary to work on spreading a more realistic culture in which modern science has a more open place. Take, for example, if we asked the Tunisian people to hold a referendum on his position on women's education, then I can assure that 99.99% will refuse her education.”