List of Chinese quotations

This List of Chinese quotations is composed of quotations that are important for Chinese culture, history and politics.
Cao Cao (155–220 CE) was a warlord who rose to power towards the end of the Han dynasty and became the de facto head of the Han government. He established the foundation of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms era.
Confucius (孔夫子; Kǒng Fū Zǐ, lit. "Master Kong," but most frequently referred to as Kongzi (孔子), traditionally 551 – 479 BCE) was a famous Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings have deeply influenced East Asian life and thought.
Deng Xiaoping (邓小平 Dèng Xiǎopíng); 1904– 1997) was a leader in the Chinese Communist Party. Deng never held office as the head of state or the head of government, but served as the de facto paramount leader of the People's Republic of China from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. He pioneered "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and Chinese economic reform, also known as the "socialist market economy".
(Source: From a speech in a meeting of the Secretariat, actually a Sichuan proverb)
(Also coined by Mao Zedong. This idea was later proposed by Deng Xiaoping during the early 1980s for the reunification of China. He suggested that there will be only one China, but areas such as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can have their own capitalist economical and political systems, while mainland China uses the "socialist" system.)
Jing Ke (Chinese: 荊軻; pinyin: Jīng Kē; Wade–Giles: Ching K'o) was a guest residing in the estates of Dan, crown prince of Yan and renowned for his failed assassination of the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang who reigned from 221 BC to 210 BC. His story is told in the chapter entitled Biography of the Assassins (刺客列傳) in Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, or Shiji. He reportedly shouted out this impromptu poem after a cup of wine with friends:
Laozi (Chinese: 老子, Pinyin: Lǎozǐ; also transliterated as Laozi, Lao Tse, Laotze, and in other ways) was an ancient Chinese philosopher. According to Chinese tradition, Lao Tzu lived in the 6th century BC, however many historians contend that Laozi actually lived in the 4th century BC, which was the period of Hundred Schools of Thought and Warring States period.
Li Bai (李白) (701-762) was a Chinese poet who lived during the Tang dynasty.
(From Drinking Alone by Moonlight)
The song was played through PA systems in every city and village from dawn to dusk. A broadcast show usually began with the song "The East Is Red", and ended with the song "The Internationale".)
Lu Xun (simplified Chinese: 鲁迅; traditional Chinese: 魯迅; pinyin: Lǔ Xùn) or Lu Hsün (Wade-Giles) (1881 – 1936), has been considered one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century and the founder of modern baihua (白话 báihuà), or vernacular, literature. Also a noted translator, his literary works and essays exerted a substantial influence after the May Fourth Movement.
Luo Guanzhong (Traditional Chinese: 羅貫中; Wade Giles: Lo Kuan-chung) (c 1330 - 1400) was a 14th-century Chinese author attributed with writing Romance of the Three Kingdoms and editing Outlaws of the Marsh, two of the most revered adventure epics in Chinese literature.
Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976) (also Mao Tse-Tung in Wade-Giles) was Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1945 until his death. He instigated several major socio-political programmes (some through collectivisation), including the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.
Mozi Chinese: 墨子; pinyin: Mòzǐ; Wade–Giles: Mo Tzu, Lat. as Micius, c. 470 BCE–c. 390 BCE), was a philosopher who lived in China during the Hundred Schools of Thought period (early Warring States period). He founded the school of Mohism and argued strongly against Confucianism and Daoism. During the Warring States period, Mohism was actively developed and practiced in many states, but fell out of favour when the legalist Qin dynasty came to power.
Sun Yat-sen (Chinese: 孫逸仙; November 12, 1866–March 12, 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader often referred to as the “father of modern China”. Sun is highly regarded as the National Father of modern China. His political philosophy, known as the Three Principles of the People, was proclaimed in August 1905.
Tan Daoji (檀道濟; (died 436) was a high level general of the dynasty Liu Song. He was one of the most respected generals during the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. Because of this, however, he was feared by Emperor Wen and even more so by Emperor Wen's brother, the prime minister Liu Yikang, and during an illness of Emperor Wen, Liu Yikang had Tan arrested and executed on false accusations of treason. Tan was said to have had Thirty-Six Strategies.
Wang Xizhi (王羲之) (303 - 361) was a Chinese calligrapher, traditionally referred to as the "Sage of Calligraphy" (書聖). His most famous work is the "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" (Chinese: 兰亭序; pinyin: Lán Tíng Xù), the preface of a collection of poems written by a number of poets when gathering at Lanting near the town of Shaoxing for the Spring Purification Festival. The original is lost, but there are a number of fine tracing copies and rubbings.
Xunzi (荀子; born Zhao c. 310–237 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher who lived during the Warring States Period, and was part of the during the Hundred Schools of Thought.
Zhuangzi (pinyin), Chuang Tzŭ (Wade-Giles), Chuang Tsu, Zhuang Tze, or Chuang Tse (Traditional Chinese characters: 莊子; Simplified Chinese characters: 庄子, literally meaning "Master Zhuang") was a famous philosopher in ancient China who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical summit of Chinese thought. Another well-known part of the book, which is also found in Chapter 2, is usually called "Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly".
Quotations related to Chinese proverbs at Wikiquote