“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. People necessarily wield military and economic power.”

—  Mao Zedong

1930s, On Protracted Warfare (1938)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 10, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things that are decisive. The co…" by Mao Zedong?
Mao Zedong photo
Mao Zedong 181
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of… 1893–1976

Related quotes

Mao Zedong photo

“Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things that are decisive.”

Mao Zedong (1893–1976) Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

On Protracted Warfare (1938)
Context: Weapons are an important factor in war, but not the decisive factor; it is people, not things that are decisive. The contest of strength is not only a contest of military and economic power, but also a contest of human power and morale. People necessarily wield military and economic power.

Kim Il-sung photo

“War is not only a contest of strength, but also a test of morality and ethics.”

Kim Il-sung (1912–1994) President of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

With the century, vol. 3

C. Wright Mills photo

“In the United States… a handful of corporations centralize decisions and responsibilities that are relevant for military and political as well as economic developments of global significance. For nowadays the military and the political cannot be separated from economic considerations of power. We now live not in an economic order or a political order, but in a political economy that is closely linked with military institutions and decisions. This is obvious in the repeated "oil crisis" in the Middle East, or in the relevance of Southeast Asia and African resources for the Western powers…”

C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) American sociologist

Character & Social Structure (1954).
1950s

“The economic and political power—and therefore police and military force—at the disposal of the owning class is almost illimitable, and is wielded with a ruthless determination to maintain privilege, prestige, and power.”

Kirby Page (1890–1957) American clergyman

Individualism and Socialism (1933)

James Surowiecki photo

“Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.”

James Surowiecki The Wisdom of Crowds

Source: The Wisdom of Crowds

Jacques Ellul photo

“I believe that the biblical teaching is clear. It always contests political power.”

Jacques Ellul (1912–1994) French sociologist, technology critic, and Christian anarchist

Source: The Subversion of Christianity (1984), p. 116
Context: I believe that the biblical teaching is clear. It always contests political power. It incites to "counterpower," to "positive" criticism, to an irreducible dialogue (like that between king and prophet in Israel), to antistatism, to a decentralizing of the relation, to an extreme relativizing of everything political, to an anti-ideology, to a questioning of all that claims either power or dominion (in other words, of all things political), and finally, if we may use a modern term, to a kind of "anarchism" (so long as we do not relate the term to the anarchist teaching of the nineteenth century).

J. R. D. Tata photo

“The Psychology of Delay. Some of the causes of delay in coming to economic decisions in our country seem to lie in the psychological realm. There is such a thing as the psychology of power which motivates people: power of control and patronage, power to delay an application, power to hold up a file, power to keep people waiting in an ante-room, all of which are consciously or subconsciously treated as symbols of prestige and hallmarks of importance.”

J. R. D. Tata (1904–1993) Indian businessman

To The Central Advisory Council of Industries, New Delhi, January 3, 1969.
Keynote: Excerpts from his speeches and chairman's statements to shareholders

Chester W. Nimitz photo

“The U. S.'s major strength factor and weapon is its economy. If you cripple it, you cripple the military.”

Chester W. Nimitz (1885–1966) United States Navy fleet admiral

As quoted in "According to Plan" in TIME magazine (13 March 1950) http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,812125,00.html

“Ultimately…the hierarchy of prestige in an international system rests on economic and military power.”

Robert Gilpin (1930–2018) Political scientist

War and Change in World Politics (1981)

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“If the minority is as powerful as the majority there is no use of having political contests at all, for there is no use in having a majority.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Speech before the Federal Club http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/images/research/txtspeeches/581.pdf, New York City, (6 March 1891), as published in New York Daily Tribune (7 March 1891)
1890s
Context: Of recent years... representative government all over the world has been threatened with a growing paralysis. Legislative bodies have tended more and more to become wholly inefficient for the purposes of legislation. The prime feature in causing this unhealthy growth has been the discovery by minorities that under the old rules of parliamentary procedure they could put a complete stop to all legislative action... If the minority is as powerful as the majority there is no use of having political contests at all, for there is no use in having a majority.

Related topics