Morality begins at the point of a gun. Mao Zedong More Quotes by Mao Zedong More Quotes From Mao Zedong The state machine, including the army, the police and the courts, is the instrument with which one class oppresses another. It is an instrument of oppression against all hostile classes; it means violence and is certainly not anything 'benevolent.' 'You are merciless.' Quite so. We definitely do not adopt a benevolent policy towards the reactionary activities of the reactionaries and the reactionary classes. Mao Zedong armycommunicationmean Many who have read Marxist books have become renegades from the revolution, whereas illiterate workers often grasp Marxism very well. Mao Zedong revolutioncommunismbook The popular masses are like water, and the army is like a fish. How then can it be said that when there is water, a fish will have difficulty in preserving its existence? An army which fails to maintain good discipline gets into opposition with the popular masses, and thus by its own action dries up the water. Mao Zedong disciplinearmymilitary 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. Mao Zedong scareunited-statespeople Let's contemplate this, how many people would die if war breaks out. There are 2.7 billion people in the world. One-third could be lost; or, a little more, it could be half... I say that, taking the extreme situation, half dies, half lives, but imperialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist. Mao Zedong would-bewarpeople The government burns down whole cities while the people are forbidden to light lamps. Mao Zedong governmentlightcities 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 Zedong realheropast "Don't you want to abolish state power?" Yes, we do, but not right now. We cannot do it yet. Why? Because imperialism still exists, because domestic reaction still exists, because classes still exist in our country. Our present task is to strengthen the people's state apparatus - mainly the people's army, the people's police and the people's courts - in order to consolidate national defense and protect the people's interests. Mao Zedong armyordercountry The officers do not beat the men; the officers and men receive equal treatment. Soldiers are free to hold meetings and speak out. Trivial formalities have been done away with and the accounts are open for all to inspect. Mao Zedong speaks-outsoldiermen It was the Russians that introduced the Chinese to Marxism. Before the October Revolution, the Chinese were not only ignorant of Lenin and Stalin but did not even know of Marx or Engels. The salvos of the October Revolution awoke us to Marxism-Leninism. Mao Zedong october-revolutionchinesecommunication People like me sound like a lot of big cannons. Mao Zedong bigssoundpeople You have never suffered-how can you be a leftist? Mao Zedong leftistscommunism We have an army for fighting as well as an army for labour. For fighting, we have the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies but even they do a dual job, warfare and production. With these two kinds of armies, and with a fighting army skilled in these two tasks and in mass work, we can overcome our difficulties and defeat Japanese imperialism. Mao Zedong armyfightingjobs Poem for Liu Ya-tzu I cannot forget how in Canton we drank tea and in Chungking went over our poems when leaves were yellowing. Thirty-one years ago and now we come back at last to the ancient capital Peking. In this season of falling flowers I read your beautiful poems. Be careful not to be torn inside. Open your vision to the world. Don't say that waters of Kumming Lake are too shallow. We can watch fish better here than in the Fuchun River in the south. Mao Zedong flowerbeautifulfall Communists should be the most farsighted, the most self-sacrificing, the most resolute, and the least prejudiced in sizing up situations, and should rely on the majority of the masses and win their support. Mao Zedong sacrificeselfwinning Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right. Mao Zedong opinionvoicepeople If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it. Mao Zedong learningteachingfood At the beginning of anything out of the ordinary, the mass of the people always dislike it. Mao Zedong massordinarypeople Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party. Mao Zedong armypartygun Saying Good-bye to the God of Disease (1) Mauve waters and green mountains are nothing when the great ancient doctor Hua To could not defeat a tiny worm. A thousand villages collapsed, were choked with weeds, men were lost arrows. Ghosts sang in the doorway of a few desolate houses. Yet now in a day we leap around the earth or explore a thousand Milky Ways. And if the cowherd who lives on a star asks about the god of plagues, tell him, happy or sad, the god is gone, washed away in the waters. July 1, 1958 Mao Zedong weedstarslife
