Wang Chong Quotes
Wang Chong was a Chinese philosopher of the Eastern Han dynasty and one of the most original critical and naturalist thinkers of the classical Chinese tradition. His Lunheng, the Balanced Discourses, mounted a comprehensive skeptical critique of the popular religion, divination, and the more credulous strands of Han-era cosmology, defending an austere naturalism in which heaven is not a moral agent but the regular operation of the natural world. The quotes below are attributed to Wang Chong, organized by topic.
Wang Chong on Death
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Attributed to Wang Chong:
“If the dead truly returned as ghosts, the roads would be impassable.”
Wang Chong on God
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Attributed to Wang Chong:
“Heaven does not speak; only men attribute speech to it.”
Wang Chong on Knowledge
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Attributed to Wang Chong:
“The educated man should believe nothing on the authority of repetition alone.”
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Attributed to Wang Chong:
“Reason, not custom, is the proper measure of the truth of any claim.”
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“As quoted in 1974, "Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing; A Member of the 'Gang of Four'" in The New York Times (5 August 1992)”
What is wrong with rebellion? It was through the rebellion led by Chairman Mao against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism that members of the Communist Party of China achieved the victory of revolution and succeeded in seizing political power. -
“Will our Great Cultural Revolution be cursed? Certainly some people will curse it. And even 10 years or several decades later, there will be some people who will curse it.”
As quoted in 1974, "Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing; A Member of the 'Gang of Four'" in The New York Times (5 August 1992) -
“As quoted in 1974, "Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing; A Member of the 'Gang of Four'" in The New York Times (5 August 1992)”
Will our Great Cultural Revolution be cursed? Certainly some people will curse it. And even 10 years or several decades later, there will be some people who will curse it. -
“Historical experience tells us that not only will the struggle between the two classes and the two roads in society at home inevitably find expression in our Party, but imperialism and social-imperialism abroad will inevitably recruit agents from within our Party in order to carry out aggression and subversion against us.”
Wikiquote -
“To study Marxism and criticize revisionism is our long-term task for strengthening the building of our Party ideologically.”
Wikiquote
Wang Chong on Nature
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Attributed to Wang Chong:
“What we call portents are nothing but the regular operation of nature.”
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“If one practises Marxism and wholeheartedly serves the interests of the vast majority of the people of China and the world, one is obliged to work for unity and be open and aboveboard; if one practises revisionism and exclusively serves the small number of exploiting class elements, one will inevitably go in for splits, intrigues and conspiracy. Revisionism is an international bourgeois ideological trend. Revisionists are agents whom the bourgeoisie, and imperialism, revisionism and reaction plant in our Party by means of sending them in or recruiting them from our ranks.”
Wikiquote
Wang Chong on Politics
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“What is wrong with rebellion? It was through the rebellion led by Chairman Mao against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism that members of the Communist Party of China achieved the victory of revolution and succeeded in seizing political power.”
As quoted in 1974, "Wang Hongwen Dies in Beijing; A Member of the 'Gang of Four'" in The New York Times (5 August 1992) -
“Chairman Mao says, "To lead the revolution to victory, a political party must depend on the correctness of its own political line and the solidity of its own organization." All the comrades of our Party must pay close attention to the question of line, persist in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat, strengthen our Party building and ensure that the Party's basic line for the historical period of socialism is carried through.”
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“We must heighten our vigilance and understand the protractedness and complexity of this struggle. In order to constantly consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat and seize new victories for the socialist cause, it is necessary to deepen the socialist revolution in the ideological, political and economic spheres, to transform all those parts of the superstructure that do not conform to the socialist economic base and carry out many great political revolutions such as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution .”
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“The naked eye is not enough, we must have the aid of the telescope and the microscope. The Marxist method is our telescope and microscope in political and military matters.”
Wikiquote