Author Profile
Sun Yat-sen
1866 – 1925 • Chinese • Leader
64
Total Quotes
Collected Meditations
Showing 64 quotesAll our compatriots know that the loss of Mongolia would mean the demise of our country. We would rather resist Russia and die heroically than succumb to Russia and perish shamefully.— Sun Yat-sen
Decades of futile effort have not dampened my bold aspirations to save the nation. Born in a late age, I have not been able to witness the golden rule of Yao and Shun and other sage emperors of ancient China. Instead, my heart grieves at the suffering of the Chinese people under the cruel exploitation of the Tartar Slaves.— 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
I am keenly aware that the wealth and power of the European nations are the result not only of their having ships and powerful guns, strong fortresses and formidable troops but also because their people can fully employ their talents, their land can be fully utilized, their natural resources can be fully tapped, and their goods can freely flow.— Sun Yat-sen
I began to realize that, in spite of great achievements in wealth and military prowess, the great powers of Europe have not yet succeeded in providing the greatest happiness of the vast majority of the people; and that the reformers in these European countries were working hard for a new social revolution.— Sun Yat-sen
We say that a group united and developed in the royal way, by forces of nature, is a race; a group united and developed by way of might, by human forces, is a state. This, then, is the difference between a race or nationality and a state.— Sun Yat-sen
Our youths are constantly trying to learn everything the West has to teach, but what is newest in the West has existed in China for thousands of years.— Sun Yat-sen
In my International Development Scheme, I propose that the profits of this industrial development should go first to pay the interest and principal of foreign capital invested in it; second to give high wages to labor; and third to improve or extend the machinery of production.— Sun Yat-sen
China more than two milleniums ago had already considered the idea of democracy, but at that time she could not put it into operation.— 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 goal of the revolution is to achieve the people's rights, but during the course of the revolution, we must stress military power - and the two are mutually contradictory.— Sun Yat-sen
At Kobe, whither I fled from Hong Kong, I took a step of great importance. I cut off my cue, which had been growing all my life.— Sun Yat-sen
China's many nationalities need only to be transformed into the Chinese nation and to make it a highly civilized nation; then the nationalization process will be completed.— Sun Yat-sen
All my comrades must continue to exert their efforts according to my 'Programme of National Reconstruction,' 'Outline of Reconstruction,' the 'Three Principles of the People,' and the 'Manifesto' issued by the First National Congress of our Party, and strive on earnestly for the consummation of the end we have in view.— 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
In antiquity, agriculture and industry depended completely on human labor; but now, with the development of natural forces that human labor cannot match, agriculture and industry have fallen completely into the hands of the capitalists. The greater the amount of capital, the more abundant the resources that can be utilized.— 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
We intend to try by every means in our power to seize the country and create a government without bloodshed.— Sun Yat-sen
A political revolution must proceed simultaneously with the nationalist revolution. When we overthrow the Manchu regime, we will achieve not only a nationalist revolution against the Manchus but also a political revolution against monarchy. They are not to be carried out at two different times.— Sun Yat-sen