Chiang Kai-shek Quotes

It was entirely due to my mother [a devout Buddhist] and her kindness and perseverance that the family was saved from utter ruin. For a period of 17 years–from the age of 9 until I was 25 years old–my mother never spent a day free from domestic difficulties.

If when I die, I am still a dictator, I will certainly go down into the oblivion of all dictators. If, on the other hand, I succeed in establishing a truly stable foundation for a democratic government, I will live forever in every home in China.

We shall not lightly talk about sacrifice until we are driven to the last extremity which makes sacrifice inevitable.

China has no desire to replace Western imperialism in Asia with an Oriental imperialism or isolationism of its own or anyone else.

You must all be aware that modern war is not a mere matter of military operations. It involves the whole strength and all the resources of the nation. Not only soldiers, but also all citizens without exception, take part.

Mao is a sometime Yin sometime Yang strange man, he has a soft-as-cotton outer layer, but at the same time has sharp needles hiding inside… I do not think he could achieve anything, at the end he will be crushed inside my palm.

We write our own destiny …we become what we do.

Only a fighting nation can make itself responsible for world peace, and such a nation must organize its material resources and manpower with the highest possible degree of efficiency.

I have often said China is not lacking in material resources. The question is whether we can make full and good use of them.

The Japanese are a disease of the skin. The Communists are a disease of the heart.

We live in the present, we dream of the future and we learn eternal truths from the past.

Democracy is liberty – a liberty which does not infringe on the liberty nor encroach on the rights of others; a liberty which maintains strict discipline, and makes law its guarantee and the basis of its exercise. This alone is true liberty; this alone can produce true democracy.