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Quotes from Directives on the Cultural Revolution — Mao Zedong

1893–1976 China

← All quotes by Mao Zedong

16 quotes

No need to be afraid of tidal waves; human society has been evolved out of 'tidal waves'.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

The Cultural Revolution can only be the emancipation of the masses by the masses.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

Except in the deserts, at every place of human habitation there is the left, the centre, and the right. This will continue to be so 10,000 years hence.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

A communist must never stay aloof from or above the masses like a bureaucrat. He ought to be like an ordinary worker in the presence of the masses, join them, and become one of them.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

In any revolution, its internal causes are fundamental and its external ones are supplementary.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

Democracy sometimes looks like an end in itself, but in fact it is merely a means to an end.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

Without destruction there can be no construction; without blockage there can be no flow; without stoppage there can be no movement.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

Wind will not cease even if trees want to rest.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

You should pay attention to state affairs and carry the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution through to the end!

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

The basic ideological programme of the great proletarian Cultural Revolution is 'to combat selfishness and criticize revisionism.'

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

This is a movement on a vast scale. It has indeed mobilized the masses. It is of very great significance to the revolutionization of the thinking of the people throughout the country.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

Young people should be permitted to make mistakes. As long as their general orientation is correct, let them make minor mistakes. I believe that they can correct themselves in practical work.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

It is to the advantage of despots to keep people ignorant; it is to our advantage to make them intelligent. We must lead all of them gradually away from ignorance.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

A revolution depends on an inner core. This, the bourgeois faction in authority and the faction in authority which has committed mistakes know best; [their] peripheral organizations merely add fuel to the fire.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

The peoples of the world must have courage, dare to fight, and fear no hardships. When the ones in front fall, the others behind must follow up. In this way, the world will belong to the people and all the demons will be eliminated.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

The revolutionary red guards and revolutionary student organizations must form a grand alliance. As long as they are revolutionary mass organizations, they must form a great alliance according to revolutionary principles.

Directives on the Cultural Revolution (1966)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Mao Zedong (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.