Mao Zedong Quotes

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

The differences between friends cannot but reinforce their friendship.

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

You have never suffered-how can you be a leftist?

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

Man must conquer nature.

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

We are firmly convinced that private capital, Chinese as well as foreign, must be given liberal opportunities for broad development in postwar China; for China needs industrial growth.

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

It is right to rebel against reactionaries.

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

A man's head is not like a scallion, which will grow again if you cut it off; if you cut it off wrongly, then even if you want to correct your error, there is no way of doing it.

In transforming backward agricultural China into an advanced industrialized country, we are confronted with arduous tasks and our experience is far from adequate. So we must be good at learning.

Our attitude towards ourselves should be 'to be satiable in learning' and towards others 'to be tireless in teaching.

...it is impossible for a genuine people's revolution in any country to win victory without various forms of help from the international revolutionary forces.

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

We stand for self-reliance. We hope for foreign aid but cannot be dependent on it; we depend on our own efforts, on the creative power of the whole army and the entire people.

In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.

The great man, Genghis Khan, only knew how to shoot eagles with an arrow. The past is past. To see real heroes, look around you.

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

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

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

Let one thousand flowers bloom.

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

History shows that wars are divided into two kinds-just and unjust. All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust.

Anyone who sees only the bright side but not the difficulties cannot fight effectively for the accomplishment of the Party's tasks.

Let the ancient serve the present, let the foreign serve the national; by developing that which has been accomplished one creates something that is new.

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

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.

Every Communist working in the mass movements should be a friend of the masses and not a boss over them, an indefatigable teacher and not a bureaucratic politician.

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

An army of the people is invincible!

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

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

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

As for people who are politically backward, Communists should not slight or despise them, but should befriend them, unite with them, convince them and encourage them to go forward.

[Khrushchev] should get a one-ton medal.

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

The question is not whether or not there should be a cult of the individual, but rather whether or not the individual concerned represents the truth, if he does then he should be worshiped.

Knowledge is a matter of science and no dishonesty or conceit whatsoever is permissible. What is required is definitely the reverse - honesty and modesty.

Ours is a people's democratic dictatorship, led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliance.

Our stand is that of the proletariat and of the masses. For members of the Communist Party, this means keeping to the stand of the Party, keeping to Party spirit and Party policy.

Communists should set an example in study; at all times they should be pupils of the masses as well as their teachers.

The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. Military and economic power is necessarily wielded by people.

If one must fight one should confine oneself to conventional weapons.

The Red Army is like a furnace in which all captured soldiers are melted down and transformed the moment they come over.

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

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

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

I am alone with the masses.