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
Revolution is usually a bloody affair. Our Revolution of 1911 did not shed much blood because our people are a peace-loving people. This peace-loving quality is the greatest virtue of the Chinese.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the peaceful nature of the Chinese people during a time of revolution.
Sun Yat-sen reflects on the 1911 Revolution in China, highlighting the relatively low levels of violence compared to typical revolutions. He attributes this to the intrinsic peace-loving disposition of the Chinese people, suggesting that their greatest virtue lies in their ability to pursue change without excessive bloodshed.
Themes
RevolutionPeaceVirtueChangeBloodshed
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about non-violent revolutions.
More from Sun Yat-Sen
All quotes →After 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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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