Mao Zedong Quotes

Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right.

the imperialist prophets are pinning their hopes of "peaceful evolution" on the third or fourth generation of the Chinese Party.

We are indebted to Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin for giving us a weapon. The weapon is not a machine-gun, but Marxism-Leninism.

Swollen in head, weak in legs, sharp in tongue but empty in belly.

The government burns down whole cities while the people are forbidden to light lamps.

The sky is no bigger than the mouth of the well.

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.

Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party.

Complacency is the enemy of study. We cannot really learn anything until we rid ourselves of complacency.

An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.

The Communist party must control the guns.

The weeds of socialism are better than the crops of capitalism.

The first law of war is to preserve ourselves and destroy the enemy.

In our international relations, we Chinese people should get rid of great-power chauvinism resolutely, thoroughly, wholly and completely.

The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.

We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war.

To link oneself with the masses, one must act in accordance with the needs and wishes of the masses.

All the rest of the world uses the word electricity. They've borrowed the word from English. But we Chinese have our own word for it!

Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and surmount every difficulty to win victory.

Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.

Even though I believe we should promote Chinese medicine, I personally do not believe in it. I don't take Chinese medicine ...

It is a very good thing, and a significant one too, to exterminate the bourgeoisie and capitalism in China.

It is right to rebel against reactionaries.

All counter-revolutionary wars are unjust, all revolutionary wars are just.

Look at World War II, at Hitler's cruelty. The more cruelty, the more enthusiasm for revolution.

The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue

Evil does not exist in guerrilla warfare but only in the unorganized and undisciplined activities that are anarchism,

Imperialism is a paper tiger.

Some play the piano well and some badly and there is a great difference in the melodies they produce.

The arrow of Marxist-Leninism must be used to hit the target of the Chinese Revolution.

Despise the enemy strategically, but take him seriously tactically.

New things have to experience difficulties and setbacks as they grow.

On all basic points our policies have proved correct from the very beginning.

There is great disorder in the heavens, and the situation is excellent.

Dogma is less useful than cow dung. One can make whatever one likes out of it, even revisionism ...

Political work is the life-blood of all economic work.

I am alone with the masses.

To read too many books is harmful.

In class society everyone lives as a member of a particular class, and every kind of thinking, without exception, is stamped with the brand of class.

There may be thousands of principles of Marxism, but in the final analysis they can be summed up in one sentence: Rebellion is justified.

Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of society as a whole.

Once all struggle is grasped, miracles are possible.

But the basic principle of guerrilla warfare must be the offensive, and guerrilla warfare is more offensive in its character than regular warfare.

Revolution is a drama of passion. We did not win the people over by appealing to reason but by developing hope, trust, fraternity.

Today the whole world depends on communism for its salvation, and China is no exception.

We can learn what we did not know. We are not only good at destroying the Old World, we are also good at building the new.

Learn to swim. It is a sport all the peasants can play.

Napoleon was the best method. Dissolved all representative institutions and it decided who should rule the state with him.

It is mainly because of the unorganized state of the Chinese masses that Japan dares to bully us.

Many who have read Marxist books have become renegades from the revolution, whereas illiterate workers often grasp Marxism very well.

If there were no contradictions and no struggle, there would be no world, no process, no life, and there would be nothing at all.

Deaths have benefits. They can fertilise the ground.

Whoever has an army has power, and war decides everything.

Men and women must receive equal pay for equal work in production.

Communism has nothing to do with love. Communism is an excellent hammer which we use to destroy our enemy.

Don't wait untill problems pile up and cause a lot of trouble before trying to solve them. Leaders must march ahead the movement, not lag behind it.

There should be celebration rallies when people die ... We believe in dialectics, and so we can't not be in favor of death.

Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.

Revolutionary war is an antitoxin which not only eliminates the enemy's poison but also purges us of our own filth.

War, this monster of mutual slaughter among men, will be finally eliminated by the progress of human society, and in the not too distant future too.

Without a People's army, the people have nothing.

Disaster and chaos are always good

Once all struggle is grapsed, miracles are possible.

Be pupils of the masses as well as their teachers.

In literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and the artistic.

Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution.

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.

If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution.

[Khrushchev] should get a one-ton medal.

The Chinese people have stood up.

Learn from the masses, and then teach them.

Oxford shirts. Definitely more oxford shirts.

We Communists are like seeds and the people are like the soil. Wherever we go, we must unite with the people, take root and blossom among them.

There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants.

A people's insurrection and a people's revolution are not only natural but inevitable.

The people are like water and the army is like fish.

History is a symptom of our disease

In waking a tiger, use a long stick.

People like me sound like a lot of big cannons.

I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.

In time of difficulties, we must not lose sight of our achievements.

At the beginning of anything out of the ordinary, the mass of the people always dislike it.

When the enemy advances, withdraw; when he stops, harass; when he tires, strike; when he retreats, pursue.

People of the world, unite and defeat the U.S. aggressors and all their running dogs!

Let one thousand flowers bloom.

The most important thing is to be strong. With strength, one can conquer others, and to conquer others gives one virtue.

Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.

We shall heal our wounds, collect our dead and continue fighting.

To Be Attacked by the Enemy Is Not a Bad Thing but a Good Thing,

Women hold up half the sky.

There is turmoil under the heavens. The prospects are excellent.

Maybe you're afraid of sinking. Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, you won't sink. If you do, you will.

In a suitable temperature, an egg becomes a chicken, and there are no chickens born of stones.

Once all struggles are grasped, miracles are possible.

To rebel is justified

Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive.

Complacency is the enemy of study.

That has less significance than a dog's fart.

As far as world war goes, there are really only two possibilities: either war provokes revolution, or revolution averts war.

Civilize the mind but make savage the body.