Quotes by Mao Zedong

• The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.
• I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.
• War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.
• To read too many books is harmful.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.
• An army without culture is a dull-witted army, and a dull-witted army cannot defeat the enemy.
• Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.
• Let a hundred flowers bloom.