On Guerrilla Warfare Quotes

“Historical experience is written in iron and blood.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“A potential revolutionary situation exists in any country where the government consistently fails in its obligation to ensure at least a minimally decent standard of life for the great majority of its citizens.”
― Mao Tse-tung, Mao Tse-Tung On Guerrilla Warfare

“People who live at subsistence level want first things to be put first. They are not particularly interested in freedom of religion, freedom of the press, free enterprise as we understand it, or the secret ballot. Their needs are more basic: land, tools, fertilizers, something better than rags for their children, houses to replace their shacks, freedom from police oppression, medical attention, primary schools.”
― Mao Tse-tung, Mao Tse-Tung On Guerrilla Warfare

“breaking up the whole into parts",”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“Concentrate a big force to strike at a small section of the enemy force" remains a principle of field operations in guerrilla warfare.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“Evil does not exist in guerrilla warfare but only in the unorganized and undisciplined activities that are anarchism,”
― Mao Tse-tung, The Red Book of Guerrilla Warfare

“The chief enemies in China's revolutionary war are imperialism and the feudal forces.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“A people's insurrection and a people's revolution are not only natural but inevitable.”
― Mao Tse-tung, The Red Book of Guerrilla Warfare

“But the basic principle of guerrilla warfare must be the offensive, and guerrilla warfare is more offensive in its character than regular warfare.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“Hence, as long as China is divided among the imperialist powers, the various cliques of warlords cannot under any circumstances come to terms, and whatever compromises they may reach will only be temporary.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“Guerrilla leaders spend a great deal more time in organization, instruction, agitation, and propaganda work than they do fighting, for their most important job is to win over the people. “We must patiently explain,” says Mao Tse-tung. “Explain,” “persuade,” “discuss,” “convince”—these words recur with monotonous regularity in many of the early Chinese essays on guerrilla war. Mao has aptly compared guerrillas to fish, and the people to the water in which they swim. If the political temperature is right, the fish, however few in number, will thrive and proliferate. It is therefore the principal concern of all guerrilla leaders to get the water to the right temperature and to keep it there. More”
― Mao Tse-tung, Mao Tse-Tung On Guerrilla Warfare

“Japan is neither willing nor able to conclude the war at present, nor has her strategic offensive yet come to an end, but, as the general trend shows, her offensive is confined within certain limits, which is the inevitable consequence of her three weaknesses; she cannot go on indefinitely till she swallows the whole of China.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“finally defeat Japanese imperialism only through the cumulative effect of many offensive campaigns and battles in both regular and guerrilla warfare,”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“Generally speaking, the main principles are as follows: (1) the use of initiative, flexibility and planning in conducting offensives within the defensive, battles of quick decision within protracted war, and exterior-line operations within interior-line operations; (2) co-ordination with regular warfare; (3) establishment of base areas; (4) the strategic defensive and the strategic offensive; (5) the development of guerrilla warfare into mobile warfare; and (6) correct relationship of command.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“The seventh type of guerrilla organization is that formed from bands of bandits and brigands. This, although difficult, must be carried out with utmost vigor lest the enemy use such bands to his own advantage. Many bandit groups pose as anti-Japanese guerrillas, and it is only necessary to correct their political beliefs to convert them. In”
― Mao Tse-tung, Mao Tse-Tung On Guerrilla Warfare

“Unquestionably, victory or defeat in war is determined mainly by the military, political, economic and natural conditions on both sides. But not by these alone. It is also determined by each side's subjective ability in directing the war.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“What is common to both, however, is the accumulation of many minor victories to make a major victory.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“The masses of China's peasantry and urban petty bourgeoisie wish to take an active part in the revolutionary war and to carry it to complete victory. They are the main forces in the revolutionary war, but, being small-scale producers, they are limited in their political outlook (and some of the unemployed masses have anarchist views), so that they are unable to give correct leadership in the war.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“The defeats which many small Red areas have suffered have been due either to the absence of the requisite objective conditions or to subjective mistakes in tactics.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“(1) a sound mass base, (2) a sound Party organization, (3) a fairly strong Red Army, (4) terrain favourable to military operations, and (5) economic resources sufficient for sustenance.”
― Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare

“Guerrilla leaders spend a great deal more time in organization, instruction, agitation, and propaganda work than they do fighting, for their most important job is to win over the people.”
― Zedong Mao, Mao Tse-Tung On Guerrilla Warfare