--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If there were no contradictions and no…" description: "\"If there were no contradictions and no struggle, there would be no world, no process, no life, and there would be nothing at all.\" — Mao Zedong" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35d/mao-zedong-1123_contradiction_if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-s_1281138.jpg" --- # If there were no contradictions and no struggle, there… ![“If there were no contradictions and no struggle, there would be no world, no process, no life, and there would be nothing at all.” quote by Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35d/mao-zedong-1123_contradiction_if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-s_1281138.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35d/mao-zedong-1123_contradiction_if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-s_1281138.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35d/mao-zedong-1123_contradiction_if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-s_1281138.jpg) > “If there were no contradictions and no struggle, there would be no world, no process, no life, and there would be nothing at all.” [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Contradictions and struggle are essential for existence and progress; without them, there is nothing. **In simple terms:** Struggle creates existence and progress. Key Takeaway Embrace conflict as a catalyst for growth. Themes philosophy existence conflict process Mood thoughtful serious Type theoretical motivational When to use this quote - political movements - personal development - creative projects - social reforms Key Concepts dialectics marism change Questions to Reflect On - How can we balance struggle with peace? - When is conflict productive? A Different Perspective Endless conflict can cause fatigue. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Contradiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradiction/) [Contradictions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictions/) [Contradictions Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradictions-struggle-4140091/) [Ifs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ifs/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Struggle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle/) [Struggle World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/struggle-world-1456156/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) [World Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world-process-1101749/) [Would be](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/would-be/) ## Related quotes > [Man unites himself with the world in the process of creation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erich-fromm/man-unites-himself-with-the-world-in-the-process-of-creation/) [Erich Fromm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erich-fromm/) > [“Most economic histories of the "world" not only omit most extra-European production and exchange (even most of that outside West Europe or even northwest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andr-gunder-frank/most-economic-histories-of-the-world-not-only-omit-most-extra/) [André Gunder Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andr-gunder-frank/) > [This is a world of process, not a world of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/margaret-j-wheatley/this-is-a-world-of-process-not-a-world-of-things/) [Margaret J. Wheatley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/margaret-j-wheatley/) > [In the struggle between yourself and the world second the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/in-the-struggle-between-yourself-and-the-world-second-the-world/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [Nothing, I am sure, calls forth the faculties so much as the being obliged to struggle with the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-wollstonecraft/nothing-i-am-sure-calls-forth-the-faculties-so-much-as-the-being/) [Mary Wollstonecraft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-wollstonecraft/) > [In man's struggle against the world, bet on the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/in-man-s-struggle-against-the-world-bet-on-the-world/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [“In the struggle between yourself and the world, side with the world”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-safran-foer/in-the-struggle-between-yourself-and-the-world-side-with-the-world/) [Jonathan Safran Foer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-safran-foer/) > [“Leave me alone; I can’t struggle when I have the whole world on my side.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/leave-me-alone-i-can-t-struggle-when-i-have-the-whole-world-on-my-side/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [There is, in short, no 'spatial fix' that can contain the contradictions of capitalism in the long run.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-harvey/there-is-in-short-no-spatial-fix-that-can-contain-the-contradictions/) [David Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-harvey/) > [We crave support in vanity, as we do in religion, and never forgive contradictions in that sphere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/we-crave-support-in-vanity-as-we-do-in-religion-and-never-forgive/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [We both wondered whether these contradictions that one can't avoid if one begins to think of time and space may not really be proofs…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-machen/we-both-wondered-whether-these-contradictions-that-one-can-t-avoid-if/) [Arthur Machen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-machen/) > [“Seemed she should learn to smile when she was unhappy, to stop laughing, to speak up, to never speak to strangers, to share guilt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-aylett/seemed-she-should-learn-to-smile-when-she-was-unhappy-to-stop/) [Steve Aylett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-aylett/) > [The reflection of nature in man's thought must be understood not lifelessly but in the eternal process of movement, the arising of contradictions and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/the-reflection-of-nature-in-man-s-thought-must-be-understood-not/) [Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/) > [There are evidently limits to the achievements of science; and there are irresolvable contradictions both between prosperity and virtue, and between happiness and ''the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/there-are-evidently-limits-to-the-achievements-of-science-and-there/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [Contradictions in human character are one of its most consistent notes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-spark/contradictions-in-human-character-are-one-of-its-most-consistent-notes/) [Muriel Spark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-spark/) ## More by Mao Zedong > [Firstly, do not fear hardship, and secondly, do not fear death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/firstly-do-not-fear-hardship-and-secondly-do-not-fear-death/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [The most effective method of propaganda directed at the enemy forces is to release captured soldiers and give the wounded medical treatment... Whenever soldiers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/the-most-effective-method-of-propaganda-directed-at-the-enemy-forces/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [We must learn to do economic work from all who know how, no matter who they are. We must esteem them as teachers, learning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/we-must-learn-to-do-economic-work-from-all-who-know-how-no-matter-who/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/a-revolution-is-not-a-dinner-party-or-writing-an-essay-or-painting-a/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [At the beginning of anything out of the ordinary, the mass of the people always dislike it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/at-the-beginning-of-anything-out-of-the-ordinary-the-mass-of-the/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [Winds flap the sail, tortoise and snake are silent, a great plan looms. A bridge will fly over this moat dug by heaven and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/winds-flap-the-sail-tortoise-and-snake-are-silent-a-great-plan-looms/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/let-a-hundred-flowers-bloom-let-a-hundred-schools-of-thought-contend/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [ In the struggle to defend the legacy of Leninism . . . \[Stalin\] proved himself to be an outstanding Marxist-Leninist fighter. . . .… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/in-the-struggle-to-defend-the-legacy-of-leninism-stalin-proved/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [New things have to experience difficulties and setbacks as they grow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/new-things-have-to-experience-difficulties-and-setbacks-as-they-grow/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [It is necessary to master Marxist theory and apply it, master it for the sole purpose of applying it. If you can apply the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/it-is-necessary-to-master-marxist-theory-and-apply-it-master-it-for/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [It is a very good thing, and a significant one too, to exterminate the bourgeoisie and capitalism in China.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/it-is-a-very-good-thing-and-a-significant-one-too-to-exterminate-the/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [Return to Shaoshan I regret the passing, the dying, of the vague dream: my native orchards thirty-two years ago. Yet red banners roused the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/return-to-shaoshan-i-regret-the-passing-the-dying-of-the-vague-dream/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [We should go to the masses and learn from them, synthesize their experience into better, articulated principles and methods, then do propaganda among the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/we-should-go-to-the-masses-and-learn-from-them-synthesize-their/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [Complacency is the enemy of study.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/complacency-is-the-enemy-of-study/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) > [Women hold up half the sky.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/women-hold-up-half-the-sky/) [Mao Zedong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) [Explore all 287 Mao Zedong quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/) ## More Contradiction quotes > [The inner defenses are unconscious. They consist of a kind of magic aura which the mind builds around cherished belief. Arguments which penetrate into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-inner-defenses-are-unconscious-they-consist-of-a-kind-of-magic/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/courage-is-almost-a-contradiction-in-terms-it-means-a-strong-desire/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction and between profession and practice - that is to say with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-hoffer/it-is-also-plausible-that-those-movements-with-the-greatest-inner/) [Eric Hoffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-hoffer/) > [Contradictions in human character are one of its most consistent notes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-spark/contradictions-in-human-character-are-one-of-its-most-consistent-notes/) [Muriel Spark](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-spark/) > [“The tiny features below, taken together with the gentle mass of Montblanc towering above them, the Vanoise glacier almost invisible in the shimmering distance,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/w-g-sebald-2/the-tiny-features-below-taken-together-with-the-gentle-mass-of/) [W.G. Sebald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/w-g-sebald-2/) > [I’m a skeptic not because I do not want to believe, but because I want to know.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/i-m-a-skeptic-not-because-i-do-not-want-to-believe-but-because-i-want/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [There are evidently limits to the achievements of science; and there are irresolvable contradictions both between prosperity and virtue, and between happiness and ''the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reinhold-niebuhr/there-are-evidently-limits-to-the-achievements-of-science-and-there/) [Reinhold Niebuhr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reinhold-niebuhr/) > [To exist (in mathematics), said Henri Poincaré, is to be free from contradiction. But mere existence does not guarantee survival. To survive in mathematics…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-kac/to-exist-in-mathematics-said-henri-poincar-is-to-be-free-from/) [Mark Kac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-kac/) > [“In these creations, life and symbolic value are not in contradiction: they intensify each other.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/in-these-creations-life-and-symbolic-value-are-not-in-contradiction/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [I have never agreed with my other self wholly. The truth of the matter seems to lie between us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/i-have-never-agreed-with-my-other-self-wholly-the-truth-of-the-matter/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [“A truth is not necessary, because we negatively are not able to conceive the actual existence of the opposite thereof;but a truth is necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/r-l-dabney/a-truth-is-not-necessary-because-we-negatively-are-not-able-to/) [R.L. Dabney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/r-l-dabney/) > [The pictures that were coming from Vietnam were showing us what was really happening on the ground level. It was in contradiction to what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-nachtwey/the-pictures-that-were-coming-from-vietnam-were-showing-us-what-was/) [James Nachtwey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-nachtwey/) > [Here I encounter the most popular fallacy of our times. It is not considered sufficient that the law should guarantee to every citizen the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederic-bastiat/here-i-encounter-the-most-popular-fallacy-of-our-times-it-is-not/) [Frederic Bastiat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederic-bastiat/) > [That the sun will not rise tomorrow is no less intelligible a proposition, and implies no more contradiction, than the affirmation, that it will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/that-the-sun-will-not-rise-tomorrow-is-no-less-intelligible-a/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [The reflection of nature in man's thought must be understood not lifelessly but in the eternal process of movement, the arising of contradictions and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-lenin/the-reflection-of-nature-in-man-s-thought-must-be-understood-not/) [Vladimir Lenin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-lenin/) [Browse all 1,263 Contradiction quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contradiction/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If there were no contradictions and no struggle, there would be no world, no process, no life, and there would be nothing at all.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mao Zedong" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-struggle-there-would-be-no/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Contradiction" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-struggle-there-would-be-no/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35d/mao-zedong-1123_contradiction_if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-s_1281138.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35d/mao-zedong-1123_contradiction_if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-s_1281138.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/35d/mao-zedong-1123_contradiction_if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-s_1281138.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If there were no contradictions and no struggle, there would be no world, no process, no life, and there…” — Mao Zedong", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mao Zedong", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mao-zedong/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "If there were no contradictions and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-struggle-there-would-be-no/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mao-zedong/if-there-were-no-contradictions-and-no-struggle-there-would-be-no/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```