Mao zedong quotes

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

The world is progressing, the future is bright and no one can change this general trend of history. We should carry on constant propaganda among the people on the facts of world progress and the bright future ahead so that they will build their confidence in victory.

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

If we have a correct theory but merely prate about it, pigeonhole it and do not put it into practice, then that theory, however good, is of no significance.

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

Oxford shirts. Definitely more oxford shirts.

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

Just because we have won victory, we must never relax our vigilance against the frenzied plots for revenge by the imperialists and their running dogs. Whoever relaxes vigilance will disarm himself politically and land himself in a passive position.

The socialist system will eventually replace the capitalist system; this is an objective law independent of man's will. However much the reactionaries try to hold back the wheel of history, eventually revolution will take place and will inevitably triumph.

No political party can possibly lead a great revolutionary movement to victory unless it possesses revolutionary theory and knowledge of history and has a profound grasp of the practical movement.

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.

You can't solve a problem? Well, get down and investigate the present facts and [the problem's] past history! When you have investigated the problem thoroughly, you will know how to solve it.

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.

Historical experience is written in blood and iron.

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

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

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.

I voted for you during your last election.

"Don't you want to abolish state power?" Yes, we do, but not right now. We cannot do it yet. Why? Because imperialism still exists, because domestic reaction still exists, because classes still exist in our country. Our present task is to strengthen the people's state apparatus - mainly the people's army, the people's police and the people's courts - in order to consolidate national defense and protect the people's interests.

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

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.

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

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

All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.

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

The spark from a tiny star can ignite the plains.

The state machine, including the army, the police and the courts, is the instrument with which one class oppresses another. It is an instrument of oppression against all hostile classes; it means violence and is certainly not anything 'benevolent.' 'You are merciless.' Quite so. We definitely do not adopt a benevolent policy towards the reactionary activities of the reactionaries and the reactionary classes.

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

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

Dont give a child a fish but show him how to fish

Despise Your enemy stragetically, but take him seriously tactically

Not just in China, but everywhere in the world without exception, one either leans to the side of imperialism or the side of socialism. Neutrality is mere camouflage; a third road does not exist.

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

It's always darkest before it becomes totally black.

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.

In the final analysis, national struggle is a matter of class struggle. Among the whites in the United States, it is only the reactionary ruling circles that oppress the black people. They can in no way represent the workers, farmers, revolutionary intellectuals and other enlightened persons who comprise the overwhelming majority of the white people.

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.

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

Let's contemplate this, how many people would die if war breaks out. There are 2.7 billion people in the world. One-third could be lost; or, a little more, it could be half... I say that, taking the extreme situation, half dies, half lives, but imperialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist.

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

The comrades throughout the Party must take all this fully into account and be prepared to overcome all difficulties with an indomitable will and in a planned way. The reactionary forces and we both have difficulties. But the difficulties of the reactionary forces are insurmountable because they are forces on the verge of death and have no future. Our difficulties can be overcome because we are new and rising forces and have a bright future.

Complacency is the enemy of study.

Deaths have benefits. They can fertilise the ground.

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

Communists must be ready at all times to stand up for the truth, because truth is in the interests of the people; Communists must be ready at all times to correct their mistakes, because mistakes are against the interests of the people.

Imperialism is a paper tiger.

All political power comes from the barrel of a gun. The communist party must command all the guns, that way, no guns can ever be used to command the party.

At no time and in no circumstances should a Communist place his personal interests first; he should subordinate them to the interests of the nation and of the masses. Hence, selfishness, slacking, corruption, seeking the limelight, and so on, are most contemptible, while selflessness, working with all one's energy, whole-hearted devotion to public duty, and quiet hard work will command respect.

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

If the U.S. monopoly capitalist groups persist in pushing their policies of aggression and war, the day is bound to come when they will be hanged by the people of the whole world. The same fate awaits the accomplices of the United States.

The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the United States reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't.

Firstly, do not fear hardship, and secondly, do not fear death.

Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive one; it is man and not materials that counts.

All the experience the Chinese people have accumulated through several decades teaches us to enforce the people's democratic dictatorship, that is, to deprive the reactionaries of the right to speak and let the people alone have that right.

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

Take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own

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

Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.

That has less significance than a dog's fart.

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

A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery. It cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.

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

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

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.

Learn from the masses, and then teach them.

To read too many books is harmful.

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

Not to have a correct political point of view is like having no soul.

We must help all our young people to understand that ours is still a very poor country, that we cannot change this situation radically in a short time, and that only through the united efforts of our younger generation and all our people, working with their own hands, can China be made strong and prosperous within a period of several decades. The establishment of our socialist system has opened the road leading to the ideal society of the future, but to translate this ideal into reality needs hard work.

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

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.

Enable every woman who can work to take her place on the labour front, under the principle of equal pay for equal work.

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.

We must have faith, first, that the peasant masses are ready to advance step by step along the road of socialism under the leadership of the Party, and second, that the Party is capable of leading the peasants along this road. These two points are the essence of the matter, the main current.

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

The enemy will not perish of himself. Neither will the Chinese reactionaries nor the aggressive forces of U.S. imperialism in China step down from the stage of history of their own accord.

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

The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should regard it not as a dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution. It is not just a matter of understanding the general laws derived by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin from their extensive study of real life and revolutionary experience, but of studying their standpoint and method in examining and solving problems.

It is right to rebel against reactionaries.

Our enemies are all those in league with imperialism - the warlords, the bureaucrats, the comprador class, the big Landlord class and the reactionary section of the intelligentsia attached to them. The leading force in our revolution is the industrial proletariat. Our closest friends are the entire semi-proletariat and petty bourgeoisie. As for the vacillating middle bourgeoisie, their right wing may become our enemy and their left wing may become our friend - but we must be constantly on our guard and not let them create confusion within our ranks.

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 revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them.

People who try to commit suicide - don't attempt to save them! . . . China is such a populous nation, it is not as if we cannot do without a few people.

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

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.

Women hold up half the sky.

The wealth of society is created by the workers, peasants and working intellectuals. If they take their destiny into their own hands, follow a Marxist-Leninist line and take an active attitude in solving problems instead of evading them, there will be no difficulty in the world which they cannot overcome.

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

Civilize the mind but make savage the body.

...the evil system of colonialism and imperialism arose and throve with the enslavement of Negroes and the trade in Negroes, and it will surely come to its end with the complete emancipation of the Black people.

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

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

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

When guerillas engage a stronger enemy, they withdraw when he advances, harass him when he stops, strike him when he is weary, pursue him when he withdraws.

Communists must never separate themselves from the majority of the people or neglect them by leading only a few progressive contingents in an isolated and rash advance, but must take care to forge close links between the progressive elements and the broad masses. This is what thinking in terms of the majority means.

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.

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

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

Man must conquer nature.

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

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

If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.

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

A Communist must never be opinionated or domineering, thinking that he is good in everything while others are good in nothing; he must never shut himself up in his little room, or brag and boast and lord it over others.

People say that poverty is bad, but in fact poverty is good. The poorer people are, the more revolutionary they are. It is dreadful to imagine a time when everyone will be rich... From a surplus of calories people will have two heads and four legs.

To investigate a problem is, indeed, to solve it.

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

Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency.

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

The differences between friends cannot but reinforce their friendship.

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

The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. Young people, full of vigour and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you...The world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you.

As for the imperialist countries, we should unite with their peoples and strive to coexist peacefully with those countries, do business with them and prevent any possible war, but under no circumstances should we harbour any unrealistic notions about them.

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

It will take a long period to decide the issue in the ideological struggle between socialism and capitalism in our country. The reason is that the influence of the bourgeoisie and of the intellectuals who come from the old society will remain in our country for a long time to come, and so will their class ideology. If this is not sufficiently understood, or is not understood at all, the gravest mistakes will be made and the necessity of waging the struggle in the ideological field will be ignored.

We should support whatever the enemy opposes and oppose whatever the enemy supports

Don't make a fuss about a world war. At most, people die... Half the population wiped out - this happened quite a few times in Chinese history... It's best if half the population is left, next best one-third.

Long distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.

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.

Morality begins at the point of a gun.

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

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

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

Once all struggles are grasped, miracles are possible.

In waking a tiger, use a long stick.