Mao Zedong Quotes

“Complacency is the enemy of study.”

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

“We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view.”

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

“The Chinese people have stood up.”

“What is work? Work is struggle. There are difficulties and problems in those places for us to overcome and solve. We go there to work and struggle to overcome these difficulties. A good comrade is one who is more eager to go where the difficulties are greater.”

“The serious problem is the education of the peasantry. The peasant economy is scattered, and the socialization of agriculture, judging by the Soviet Union's experience, will require a long time and painstaking work. Without socialization of agriculture, there can be no complete, consolidated socialism.”

“Communists must listen attentively to the views of people outside the Party and let them have their say. If what they say is right, we ought to welcome it, and we should learn from their strong points; if it is wrong, we should let them finish what they are saying and then patiently explain things to them.”

“War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.”

“Historical experience is written in blood and iron.”

“Let one thousand flowers bloom.”

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

“What is basic guerilla strategy? Guerilla strategy must be based primarily on alertness, mobility, and attack. It must be adjusted to the enemy situation, the terrain, the existing lines of communication, the relative strengths, the weather, and the situation of the people.”

“The young people are the most active and vital force in society. They are the most eager to learn and the least conservative in their thinking. This is especially so in the era of socialism.”

“The People's democratic dictatorship is based on the alliance of the working class, the peasantry and the urban petty bourgeoisie, and mainly on the alliance of the workers and the peasants, because these two classes comprise 80 to go per cent of China's population. These two classes are the main force in overthrowing imperialism and the Kuomintang reactionaries. The transition from New Democracy to socialism also depends mainly upon their alliance.”

“When there is not enough to eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the other half can eat their fill.”

“All the reputedly powerful reactionaries are merely paper tigers. The reason is that they are divorced from the people. Look! Was not Hitler a paper tiger? Was Hitler not overthrown? U.S. imperialism has not yet been overthrown and it has the atomic bomb. I believe it also will be overthrown. It, too, is a paper tiger.”

“In times of difficulty we must not lose sight of our achievements, must see the bright future and must pluck up our courage.”

“While swimming in the heavily polluted rivers of south China, despite the pleadings of his security guards and his physician, he would chide his companions if they began to panic in the water: 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.”

“A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.”

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

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

“A strategic plan based on the over-all situation of both belligerents is ... more stable, but it too is applicable only in a given strategic stage and has to be changed when the war moves towards a new stage. ... [Conversely, tactical plans may] ... have to be changed several times a day.”

“Power comes from the muzzle of a gun, those that have the guns have the power, those that have the power dictate what type of government their shall be.”