Mao Zedong
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.Collection: Alone
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.Collection: Power
Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive one; it is man and not materials that counts.Collection: War
Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.Collection: History
There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake, art that stands above classes, art that is detached from or independent of politics. Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole proletarian revolutionary cause.Collection: Art
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.Collection: Experience
Women hold up half the sky.Collection: Women
Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.Collection: Love
The cardinal responsibility of leadership is to identify the dominant contradiction at each point of the historical process and to work out a central line to resolve it.Collection: Work
Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of society as a whole.Collection: Equality
Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.Collection: Politics
The differences between friends cannot but reinforce their friendship.Collection: Friendship
In time of difficulties, we must not lose sight of our achievements.Collection: Time
War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.Collection: War
Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.Collection: Nature
Once all struggle is grasped, miracles are possible.
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.
The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.
To read too many books is harmful.
I voted for you during your last election.
In waking a tiger, use a long stick.
Despise the enemy strategically, but take him seriously tactically.
Learn from the masses, and then teach them.
All reactionaries are paper tigers.
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.
Swollen in head, weak in legs, sharp in tongue but empty in belly.
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.
We shall heal our wounds, collect our dead and continue fighting.
In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.
Let a hundred flowers bloom.
An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive.
I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.
Enable every woman who can work to take her place on the labour front, under the principle of equal pay for equal work.
People like me sound like a lot of big cannons.
Political work is the life-blood of all economic work.
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.
There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants.
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.
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.Collection: People
Deaths have benefits. They can fertilise the ground.Collection: Benefits
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.Collection: Party
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.Collection: Two
Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.Collection: Heaven
The government burns down whole cities while the people are forbidden to light lamps.Collection: Light
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.Collection: Suicide
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.Collection: War
The weeds of socialism are better than the crops of capitalism.Collection: Weed
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.Collection: Party
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.Collection: Thinking