Sun Yat-Sen Quotes

Grid View List View
Quote of the DayPicture QuotesTop 100 Inspirational QuotesTop 100 Love QuotesTop 100 Happiness Quotes
Martin Luther King, Jr.Stephen CoveyWalt DisneyGeorge Bernard ShawSteven WrightNapoleon BonaparteWayne DyerRobin WilliamsMae WestOscar Wilde
IntelligenceJobsZoosTrue LoveXmasDesignPositiveValentineOrchidsThankful
  • Politician
  • 1866 - 1925
  • 82 quotes

Sun Yat-Sen, a politician (1866 - 1925), is quoted 82 times on QuoteForever. The subjects that come up most often are China, Chinese, Revolution and Republic.

Quotes with a ready-made image come first, then the rest in order of how often they are read and shared. Open any quote to copy it, share it, or turn it into a picture quote.

The whole world is one family.

Only powerful people have liberty.

As for my religion, I worship Jesus.

To understand is difficult; to act is easy.

Of the people, by the people, for the people.

Trust is earned by many deeds, and lost by only one.

To understand is hard. Once one understands, action is easy.

The Revolution has not yet succeeded. Comrades, you must carry on!

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

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

An individual should not have too much freedom. A nation should have absolute freedom.

I am a Christian; God sent me to fight evil for my people. Jesus was a revolutionist; so am I.

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

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

We intend to try by every means in our power to seize the country and create a government without bloodshed.

True is the saying: 'In order to make the world tranquil and happy, the nation must first be well governed!'

In the construction of a country, it is not the practical workers but the idealists and planners that are difficult to find.

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

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.

China more than two milleniums ago had already considered the idea of democracy, but at that time she could not put it into operation.

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

If the idea of revolution is to win out, it must be through political enlightenment. It is useless to try to impose it by force of arms.

Like Moscow, I wish to lay the foundation of the Chinese Republic deeply in the minds of the young generation - the workers of tomorrow.

I am a coolie and the son of a coolie. I was born with the poor, and I am still poor. My sympathies have always been with the struggling mass.

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.

This thing called nationalism is a treasure that a country uses to try to develop and a nationality uses to try to survive. China has lost this treasure.

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.

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.

When the people share everything in the state, then will we truly reach the goal of the Min Sheng Principle, which is Confucius' hope of a 'great commonwealth.'

We shall establish an united Chinese Republic in order that all the peoples - Manchus, Mongols, Tibetans, Tartars, and Chinese - should constitute a single powerful nation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

All 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.

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.

The individual must not be allowed to be overly free, but the country must be entirely free. When the country can exercise freedom, China will have become a mighty and prosperous nation.

When only a minority consisting of capitalists can enjoy the good life, while the majority of workers must endure hardship, they will naturally not be able to live together in peace and harmony.

A republic has been established, and our compatriots in Mongolia, Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang, who have always been a part of China, are all now Chinese citizens who are masters of their country.

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.

It is the common wish of the people that the autocratic rule of the Manchu government be overthrown, that the Republic of China be strengthened, and that people's livelihood and welfare be pursued.

Class war is not the cause of social progress; it is a disease developed in the course of social progress. The cause of the disease is the inability to subsist, and the result of the disease is war.

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.

How can human rights be ever developed for the majority of Chinese people? The only way is to organize. To organize workers, peasants, merchants, industrialists, and students at the grassroots level.

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.

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.

The Chinese people have only family and clan solidarity; they do not have national spirit...they are just a heap of loose sand...Other men are the carving knife and serving dish; we are the fish and the meat.

No matter what nationalities became a part of our country in the future, they would have to assimilate into the Han nationality. The nationalism our party supports is a positive nationalism. Do not forget that.

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.

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 is quoted on

Share This Page