Mao Zedong

There is in guerrilla warfare no such thing as a decisive battle; there is nothing comparable to the fixed, passive defense that…

— Mao Zedong

If we have a correct theory but merely prate about it, pigeonhole it and do not put it into practice, then that…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

All the rest of the world uses the word electricity. They've borrowed the word from English. But we Chinese have our own…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

This army is powerful because all its members have a conscious discipline; they have come together and they fight not for the…

— Mao Zedong

A Communist must never be opinionated or domineering, thinking that he is good in everything while others are good in nothing; he…

— Mao Zedong

New things always have to experience difficulties and setbacks as they grow. It is sheer fantasy to imagine that the cause of…

— Mao Zedong

All the experience the Chinese people have accumulated through several decades teaches us to enforce the people's democratic dictatorship, that is, to…

— Mao Zedong

The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. Young people, full of vigour and…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

“Under the white population of the United States of America only the reactionary classes oppress the black population. Under no circumstance can…

— Mao Zedong

Where do correct ideas come from? Do they drop from the skies? No. They come from social practice, and from it alone;…

— Mao Zedong

In China the struggle to consolidate the socialist system, the struggle to decide whether socialism or capitalism will prevail, will still take…

— Mao Zedong

“Published in this month's Harper's, from a conversation held in Beijing in February 1973: Chairman Mao Zedong: Do you want our Chinese…

— Mao Zedong

Changes in society are due chiefly to the development of the internal contradictions in society, that is, the contradiction between the productive…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

It is quite possible that China may reach the stages of socialism and communism considerably later than your countries in the West…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

The cardinal responsibility of leadership is to identify the dominant contradiction at each point of the historical process and to work out…

— Mao Zedong

A man's head is not like a scallion, which will grow again if you cut it off; if you cut it off…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

We Communists are like seeds and the people are like the soil. Wherever we go, we must unite with the people, take…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

In class society everyone lives as a member of a particular class, and every kind of thinking, without exception, is stamped with…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

The young people are the most active and vital force in society. They are the most eager to learn and the least…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

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…

— Mao Zedong

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

— Mao Zedong

The masses in any given place are generally composed of three parts, the relatively active, the intermediate and the relatively backward. The…

— Mao Zedong