Top 100 Mao Quotes
#1. 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.
Mao Zedong
#2. 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.
Mao Zedong
#3. Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.
Mao Zedong
#4. Conditions are changing all the time, and to adapt one's thinking to the new conditions, one must study. Even those who have a better grasp of Marxism and are comparatively firm in their proletarian stand have to go on studying, have to absorb what is new and study new problems.
Mao Zedong
#5. The exemplary vanguard role of the Communists is of vital importance. Communists in the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies should set an example in fighting bravely, carrying out orders, observing discipline, doing political work and fostering internal unity and solidarity.
Mao Zedong
#6. When you point a finger at the moon to indicate the moon, instead of looking at the moon,the stupid ones look at your finger.
Mao Tse-tung
#7. 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.
Mao Zedong
#8. Therefore, before any action is taken, we must explain the policy, which we have formulated in the light of the given circumstances, to Party members and to the masses. Otherwise, Party members and the masses will depart from the guidance of our policy, act blindly and carry out a wrong policy.
Mao Zedong
#9. What is common to both, however, is the accumulation of many minor victories to make a major victory.
Mao Zedong
#10. If this valley is indeed cursed," Atherton continued, "there's the source. The Muslims named this set of ruins Mao Balegh, which means Cursed City.
James Rollins
#11. It's always darkest before it becomes totally black.
Mao Tse-tung
#12. Our attitude towards ourselves should be 'to be satiable in learning' and towards others 'to be tireless in teaching.
Mao Zedong
#13. It is quite possible that China may reach the stages of socialism and communism considerably later than your countries in the West which are so much more highly developed economically.
Mao Zedong
#14. The Communist party must control the guns.
Mao Zedong
#15. The first law of war is to preserve ourselves and destroy the enemy.
Mao Zedong
#16. Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.
Mao Tse-tung
#17. If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution.
Mao Zedong
#18. 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.
Mao Tse-tung
#19. There is turmoil under the heavens. The prospects are excellent.
Mao Zedong
#20. We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun. And we get it that if you want a friend you should get a dog.
Ron Bloom
#21. Without an army for the people, there is nothing for the people.
Mao Zedong
#22. You can't be a revolutionary if you don't eat chilies.
Mao Tse-tung
#23. 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.
Mao Zedong
#24. (1) a sound mass base, (2) a sound Party organization, (3) a fairly strong Red Army, (4) terrain favourable to military operations, and (5) economic resources sufficient for sustenance.
Mao Zedong
#26. Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive one; it is man and not materials that counts.
Mao Zedong
#27. Quotes from Mao, Castro, and Che Guevara ... are as germane to our highly technological, computerized society as a stagecoach on a jet runway at Kennedy airport.
Saul Alinsky
#28. 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.
Mao Zedong
#29. Of course, Mao made his mistakes, because everybody does, but at least he allowed working people to smoke, even in the most trying circumstances, such as when, for one reason or another, they found themselves up before the firing squad.
Tony Benn
#30. War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.
Mao Tse-tung
#31. Deaths have benefits. They can fertilise the ground.
Mao Zedong
#32. In time of difficulties, we must not lose sight of our achievements.
Mao Zedong
#33. There is in guerilla warfare no such thing as a decisive battle.
Mao Zedong
#34. In our international relations, we Chinese people should get rid of great-power chauvinism resolutely, thoroughly, wholly and completely.
Mao Zedong
#35. I want it to serve as a reminder of the terrible human consequences of Mao's dictatorship and of how good and talented people living under his regime were forced to violate their consciences and sacrifice their ideals in order to survive.
Li Zhisui
#36. Revolutionary war is an antitoxin which not only eliminates the enemy's poison but also purges us of our own filth.
Mao Zedong
#37. When one loves another without considering marriage as the goal, it's sexual harassment.
Chairman Mao
#38. Oh, the truth, oh yeah, lot of trouble that got us into, didn't it, over the last maybe thousand years? Hitler knew the truth, so did Stalin, so did Mao Zedong, so did the Inquisition. They all knew the truth and that caused such horror. Certainty is the enemy.
Anthony Hopkins
#39. 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.
Mao Zedong
#40. Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of society as a whole.
Mao Zedong
#41. Basically no, I mean I think that it's very easy to like I say, smoke a joint or even to wear a Chairman Mao button, or do a lot of these things with out knowing what's behind it, and what it really means.
Lester Bangs
#42. I knew I could not maintain that leadership in open struggle against Moscow influence. Only two Communist leaders in history ever succeeded in doing this - Tito and Mao Tse-tung.
Earl Browder
#43. Be resolute, fear no sacrifice, and surmount every difficulty to win victory.
Mao Zedong
#44. When I was in China, Mao was Chairman, and parents were terrified to tell their children anything that differed from the party line in case the children repeated it and endangered the whole family.
Jung Chang
#45. In the struggle to defend the legacy of Leninism ... [Stalin] proved himself to be an outstanding Marxist-Leninist fighter ... Stalin's works should, as before, be seriously studied ... [to] see what is correct and what is not.
Mao Zedong
#46. I don't have any problem with Mao or Stalin or the Vietnamese leaders or certainly Fidel locking up people they see as dangerous. Because so often, dissidence has been used by the greater powers to undermine a people's revolution.
Lynne Stewart
#47. The Chinese government is quickly losing its ideological legitimacy, maintain its rule with force, but cannot draw strength from the ideology of Marx and Mao.
Steve Forbes
#48. Disaster and chaos are always good
Mao Zedong
#49. Politics is war without blood, while war is politics with blood.
Mao Tse-tung
#50. Comrade Mao, whether he was crossing 'a sea of surging waves' or scaling 'a mountain pass impregnable as iron' always held unwaveringly to his course, setting a shining example for the Chinese Communist Party.
Xi Jinping
#51. Although my book is banned I am still allowed to go to China and travel. There is no longer the kind of control that Mao used to have-there have been deep fundamental changes in society.
Jung Chang
#52. In 1924 Mao took a Chinese friend, newly arrived from Europe, to see the notorious sign in the Shanghai park, 'Chinese and Dogs Not Allowed'.
Paul Johnson
#53. 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.
Mao Zedong
#54. Keep the enemy in the dark about where and when our forces will attack.
Mao Zedong
#55. I was Chairman Mao's dog. What he said to bite, I bit.
Jiang Qing
#56. Stalin and Mao killed over 80 million and did not make omelets despite the broken eggs.
Victor Davis Hanson
#57. 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.
Mao Zedong
#58. Political power grows out of the barrel of the gun ...
Mao Tse-tung
#59. If that lad makes a First Division footballer, then I'm Mao Tse Tung.
Tommy Docherty
#60. The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea.
Mao Zedong
#61. Six decades ago, as Mao's Communists seized power, the question in Washington was, 'Who lost China?' Now, as his capitalist descendants stand astride the world stage and Washington worries about decline, it seems to be, 'Who lost America?'
Eric Liu
#62. Chairman Mao has never seen a greater show of red strength.
Bill Shankly
#63. Men and women must receive equal pay for equal work in production.
Mao Zedong
#64. On all basic points our policies have proved correct from the very beginning.
Mao Zedong
#65. 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.
Mao Zedong
#67. We in China had been trained not to draw conclusions from facts, but to start with Marxist theories or Mao thoughts or the Party line and to deny, even condemn, the facts that did not suit them. I
Jung Chang
#68. When we look at thing, we must examine its essence and treat its appearance merely as an usher at the threshold, we must, once we cross the threshold, grasp the essence of the thing.
Mao Zedong
#69. Mao has never accepted the failure of the "Great Leap". As one of the texts reproduced below demonstrates, he would have preferred to see China perish from famine rather than readjust his own vision or recognize his mistakes.
Simon Leys
#70. In general, any form of exercise, if pursued continuously, will help train us in perseverance. Long-distance running is particularly good training in perseverance.
Mao Zedong
#71. If children were brought up to become non-conformists it would only ruin their lives. So parents all over China who loved their children told them to do as Chairman Mao said. It was not possible to tell them anything else.
Jung Chang
#72. 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.
Mao Zedong
#73. Communists should set an example in being practical as well as far-sighted. For only by being practical can they fulfil the appointed tasks, and only far-sightedness can prevent them from losing their bearings in the march forward.
Mao Zedong
#74. Knowledge is a matter of science and no dishonesty or conceit whatsoever is permissible. What is required is definitely the reverse - honesty and modesty.
Mao Zedong
#75. Some play the piano well and some badly and there is a great difference in the melodies they produce.
Mao Zedong
#76. I have been compared to Mao since we were both junior skaters. We've felt the rivalry since then, so we wanted to avoid each other. However, she has been my motivation.
Kim Yuna
#77. Our stand is that of the proletariat and of the masses. For members of the Communist Party, this means keeping to the stand of the Party, keeping to Party spirit and Party policy.
Mao Zedong
#78. Hence, as long as China is divided among the imperialist powers, the various cliques of warlords cannot under any circumstances come to terms, and whatever compromises they may reach will only be temporary.
Mao Zedong
#79. That car, as with the rest of Mr. Mao's lifestyle, was brand new. He had gotten rich, and gotten rich quick. But like the rest of his generation of Chinese Jay Gatsbys, the source of his wealth was murky.
Michael Levy
#80. The Korean War, which China entered on the side of North Korea, fixed Mao's image in the United States as another unappeasable Communist.
Pankaj Mishra
#81. I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite,
Jiang Qing
#82. We were meant to survive because of our minds' ability to reason, our ability to live with frustration in order to maintain our virtue. We wore smiling masks while dying inside.
Anchee Min
#83. Soon, all that was permitted to be taught was the chairman's Little Red Book. Chairman Mao's quotes were treated like the words of God.
Liao Yiwu
#84. Remember the words of Chairman Mao: 'It's always darkest before it's totally black.'.
John McCain
#85. The Chinese seemed to be mourning Mao in a heartfelt fashion. But I wondered how many of their tears were genuine. People had practiced acting to such a degree that they confused it with their true feelings.
Jung Chang
#86. Physics, Chemistry, and Biology had been replaced by Fundamentals of Industry and Agriculture, because of Chairman Mao's instruction to "combine education with practical experience.
Ji-li Jiang
#87. are for peace. But so long as U.S. imperialism refuses to give up its arrogant and unreasonable demands and its scheme to extend aggression, the only course for the Chinese people is to remain determined to go on fighting side by side with the Korean people. Not
Mao Zedong
#88. Wherever our comrades go they must build good relations with the masses, be concerned for them and help them overcome their difficulties. We must unite with the masses, the more of the masses we unite with, the better
Mao Zedong
#89. One word from Chairman Mao is worth ten thousand from others. His every statement is truth. We must carry out those we that understand as well as those we don't.
Lin Biao
#90. Our great leader, Chairman Mao, has taught us, 'Every reactionary is the same; if you do not hit him, he will not fall. This is also like sweeping the floor; as a rule, where the broom does not reach, the dust will not vanish by itself.'" Her
Ji-li Jiang
#91. 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.
Mao Tse-tung
#92. There is great disorder in the heavens, and the situation is excellent.
Mao Zedong
#93. In 1949, Mao Tse-tung's Communists established the People's Republic of China, and the following year, his People's Liberation Army invaded central Tibet.
Barbara Demick
#94. The three most charismatic leaders in this century inflicted more suffering on the human race than almost any trio in history: Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What matters is not the leader's charisma. What matters is the leader's mission.
Peter F. Drucker
#95. To Be Attacked by the Enemy Is Not a Bad Thing but a Good Thing,
Mao Zedong
#96. There may be thousands of principles of Marxism, but in the final analysis they can be summed up in one sentence: Rebellion is justified.
Mao Zedong
#97. I have always loved the Mao cap, though I hate violent revolution.
Vivienne Westwood
#98. 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.
Mao Zedong
#99. The main form of struggle is war; the main form of organization is the army ... Without armed struggle there would be no place for the proletariat, there will be no place for the people, there will be no place for the Communist Party, and there will be no victory in revolution.
Mao Zedong
#100. The defeats which many small Red areas have suffered have been due either to the absence of the requisite objective conditions or to subjective mistakes in tactics.
Mao Zedong
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