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.
Sun Yat-SenRead
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.
Interpretation
What this quote means
A healthy society requires a plurality of political parties to prevent dictatorship and promote progress.
Sun Yat-Sen's quote emphasizes the importance of political diversity in a civilized society. He argues that the existence of multiple political parties is essential for democracy and innovation in governance, as a single-party system would lead to authoritarianism and hinder political advancement.
Themes
PoliticsDemocracyDiversityPluralismGovernanceDictatorship
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on democratic governance, you could refer to this quote to discuss the importance of political competition.
More from Sun Yat-Sen
All quotes βAfter the Manchu government had carried on wars with foreign nations and had been defeated, China was forced to sign many unequal treaties. Foreign nations are still using these treaties to bind China, and as a result, China fails at whatever she attempts.
Sun Yat-SenRead
What problem does Pan-Asianism attempt to solve? The problem is how to terminate the sufferings of the Asiatic peoples and how to resist the aggression of the powerful European countries. In a word, Pan-Asianism represents the cause of the oppressed Asiatic peoples.
Sun Yat-SenRead
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.
Sun Yat-SenRead
At thirteen, I accompanied my mother to the Hawaiian Islands. There, for the first time, I saw the wonder of a steamship and the vastness of the ocean. From that time on, I was eager to acquire the knowledge of the West and to fathom the mysteries of nature.
Sun Yat-SenRead
Because of poverty, we must adopt the capitalist means of production to develop our resources to get rich. However, if we ignore the issue of social justice at the beginning of China's industrialization, we will sow the seeds of class warfare in the future.
Sun Yat-SenRead
Similar quotes
There is often, in the affairs of government, more efficiency and wisdom in non-action than in action.
John C. CalhounRead
These political movements flourish on the margins of Turkish society because of poverty and because of the people's feeling that they are not being represented.
Orhan PamukRead
Australia can no longer afford to go down the path of confrontation and fragmentation which has embittered and disfigured so many aspects of the national life.
Bob HawkeRead
Sometimes the idiots outvote the sensible people.
H. L. MenckenRead
Given a fair wind, we will negotiate our way into the Common Market, head held high, not crawling in. Negotiations? Yes. Unconditional acceptance of whatever terms are offered us? No.
Harold WilsonRead
Rising political tribalism, shamelessly exaggerating our opponents' claims or behavior, is leaving us vulnerable: No one loves America's internal fighting - and our increasingly siloed news consumption - more than Vladimir Putin.
Ben SasseRead