Mao Zedong Quotes

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Civilize the mind but make savage the body.

All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Kindness in words creates confidence.

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

We must learn to do economic work from all who know how, no matter who they are.

We must esteem them as teachers, learning from them respectfully and conscientiously. We must not pretend to know when we do not know.

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

We are indebted to Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin for giving us a weapon.

The weapon is not a machine-gun, but Marxism-Leninism.

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.

Investigation may be likened to the long months of pregnancy, and solving a problem to the day of birth. To investigate a problem is, indeed, to solve it.

In waking a tiger, use a long stick.

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

Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting the progress of the arts and the sciences and a flourishing culture in our land.

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

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

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

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.

Imperialism is a paper tiger.

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

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.

...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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it.

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.

Long distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.

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

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.

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

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

Oxford shirts. Definitely more oxford shirts.

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

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

War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of classes.

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

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.

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.

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.

Revolutions and revolutionary wars are inevitable in class society, and without them it is impossible to accomplish any leap in social development and to overthrow the reactionary ruling classes and therefore impossible for the people to win political power.

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

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