The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.

Let the ancient serve the present, let the foreign serve the national; by developing that which has been accomplished one creates something that is new.

Communism has nothing to do with love. Communism is an excellent hammer which we use to destroy our enemy.

It is good that since the outbreak of the war with Japan, more and more revolutionary writers have been coming to Yan'an... But it does not necessarily follow that... they have integrated themselves completely with the masses here. The two must be completely integrated if we are to push ahead with our revolutionary work.

The government burns down whole cities while the people are forbidden to light lamps.

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.

Apart from their other characteristics, the outstanding thing about China's 600 million people is that they are “poor and blank”. This may seem a bad thing, but in reality it is a good thing. Poverty gives rise to the desire for changes, the desire for action and the desire for revolution. On a blank sheet of paper free from any mark, the freshest and most beautiful characters can be written; the freshest and most beautiful pictures can be painted.