Sun Yat-sen Quotes

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Sun Yat-sen

Profession : Leader

Birth : November 12, 1866

Judging from the experience of the European War, imperialism renders no great benefit to any nation, whereas liberty for all nationalities is the only principle by which humanity will ever be saved.

Sun Yat-sen

The key to success is action, and the essential in action is perseverance.

Sun Yat-sen

The government should train and direct the people in their acquisition of political knowledge and ability, thereby enabling them to exercise the powers of election, recall, initiative, and referendum.

Sun Yat-sen

One may have broad or narrow talents, but only education renders them useful. Schools set up to train people will develop the intelligence of those who have it and end the stupidity of those who do not, providing a specialty to those who have narrow talent and broad knowledge to those with all-around ability.

Sun Yat-sen

Our position is extremely perilous; if we do not earnestly promote nationalism and weld together our four hundred millions into a strong nation, we face a tragedy - the loss of our country and the destruction of our race. To ward off this danger, we must espouse nationalism and employ the national spirit to save the country.

Sun Yat-sen

We are the poorest and weakest state in the world, occupying the lowest position in international affairs; the rest of mankind is the carving knife and the serving dish, while we are the fish and the meat.

Sun Yat-sen

Because of poverty, we must adopt the capitalist means of production to develop our resources to get rich. However, if we ignore the issue of social justice at the beginning of China's industrialization, we will sow the seeds of class warfare in the future.

Sun Yat-sen

The Chinese people have only family and clan groups; there is no national spirit. Consequently, in spite of four hundred million people gathered together in one China, we are, in fact, but a sheet of loose sand.

Sun Yat-sen

When the nation can act freely, then China may be called strong. To make the nation free, we must each sacrifice his freedom.

Sun Yat-sen

Revolutionaries were depressed and close to emotional breakdown; after the failure, they left successively.

Sun Yat-sen

Remember that a civilized nation cannot just have one party; if there were only one party, this would merely be a dictatorship. Politics could not advance.

Sun Yat-sen

If we want the Republic to be solid, we must first build its foundation. We need not look abroad for this foundation; we should seek it in the hearts of all the people of the nation.

Sun Yat-sen

We should not underestimate that: the Chinese people's ignorance. Thousands of years of despotism had been such a poison that their understanding of modern politics is even inferior to that of the black slaves and other immigrants.

Sun Yat-sen

It is my idea to make capitalism create socialism in China so that these two economic forces of human evolution will work side by side in future civilization.

Sun Yat-sen

Two thousand years ago, we abandoned imperialism and militarism. We have been peace-lovers ever since.

Sun Yat-sen

For forty years, I have devoted myself to the cause of the people's revolution with but one aim in view - the elevation of China to a position of freedom and equality among the nations.

Sun Yat-sen

We can learn something from Marxist thinking, but we cannot follow Marxist methods.

Sun Yat-sen

We must wait for the official history of the Chinese Revolution to record in greater detail the invaluable work of our Japanese friends.

Sun Yat-sen

Revolution is usually a bloody affair. Our Revolution of 1911 did not shed much blood because our people are a peace-loving people. This peace-loving quality is the greatest virtue of the Chinese.

Sun Yat-sen

The difference between the Chinese workers and foreign workers lies in the fact that the latter are oppressed only by their own capitalists and not by those of other countries.

Sun Yat-sen