Mao Zedong

1893–1976 · Chinese Communist leader

Mao Zedong led the Chinese Communist Party to victory in the civil war and helped establish the People’s Republic of China in 1949. His later campaigns included the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution; the use of his name as a quotation authority needs to be distinguished from a source in his actual writings.

Traced to source

3 quotes we’ve traced to Mao Zedong

“All reactionaries are paper tigers”

Verified

“Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun”

Verified

“There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent”

Attributed

Not actually Mao Zedong

Often misattributed to Mao Zedong

Famous lines widely pinned on Mao Zedong that we’ve traced to someone else.

“The real war is within us. History is a symptom of our disease”

actually Stephen J. Rivele, Christopher Wilkinson and Oliver Stone

Did they really say it?

Thought Mao Zedong said something else?

Type a quote you think Mao Zedong said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.