Deng Quotes & Sayings

Give back what you have learned. Share your experience. — Ming-Dao Deng

Build your life brick upon brick,
Live a life of truth,
And you will look back on a life of truth.
Live a life of fantasy,
And you will look back on delusion. — Ming-Dao Deng

You may be capable of great things, But life consists of small things. — Ming-Dao Deng

If you are what you eat, then you are shaped by what you share as you eat. — Deng Ming-Dao

Some Warriors look fierce, but are mild. Some seem timid, but are vicious. Look beyond appearances; position yourself for the advantage. — Ming-Dao Deng

Knowing the steps to create living growth: that is art. — Ming-Dao Deng

Trees in winter lose their leaves. Some trees may even fall during storms, but most stand patiently and bear their fortune. — Ming-Dao Deng

As good as Miami is, we'd rather go to Miami. — Luol Deng

Young leading cadres have risen up by helicopter. They should really rise step by step. — Deng Xiaoping

Instead, Deng Xiaoping and his allies, who were no less self-interested than their rivals but who had different interests and political objectives, defeated their powerful opponents in the Communist Party and masterminded a political revolution of sorts, radically changing the leadership and direction of the party. — Anonymous

There is oil in the Middle East there is rare earth in China. — Deng Xiaoping

Only when peace lives within each of us, will it live outside of us. We must be the wombs for a new harmony. When it is small, peace is fragile. Like a baby, it needs nurturing attention. We must protect peace from violence and perversion if it is to grow. We must be strong to do this. But force, even in the name of honor, is always tragic. Instead, we must use the strength of wisdom and conscience. Only that power can nurture peace in this difficult time. — Ming-Dao Deng

I wasn't necessarily the brightest in my family. I think my older sister was probably more clever, but I worked very hard. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

Great wisdom is achieved by being open to the world. The world does not open unless you are willing to be open. — Alephonsion Deng

Two decades ago, however, socialism and communism died rudely, then were buried forever by the empirical demonstration of the superiority of market capitalism everywhere from Thatcher's England to Deng's Dhina, where just the partial abolition of socialism lifted more people out of poverty than ever in human history. — Charles Krauthammer

If you have a good idea, use it so that you will not only accomplish something, but so that you can make room for new ones to flow into you. — Ming-Dao Deng

Mao asks Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, "How do you get a cat to bite a hot pepper?" Zhou says, "You hold him down, pry his jaws open, and shove the pepper into his mouth." Mao says, "No, that's force. We want the cat to bite the pepper of his own free will." Deng says, "You take the pepper, wrap it in a delicious piece of fish, and, before he knows it, the cat has bitten the pepper." Mao says, "No, that's trickery. We want the cat to know he's biting the pepper." Zhou and Deng say, "We give up. How do you make a cat bite a hot pepper?" "It's easy," Mao says. "Stick the pepper up the cat's ass. He'll be glad to bite it. — P. J. O'Rourke

The sages say that life is illusion, but does that change its poignancy? — Ming-Dao Deng

I knew Deng Xiaoping when he came out of prison. He had, after all, been imprisoned for nearly ten years by Mao. I know what China looked like before he took over, and so in my own mind, I don't think of Deng Xiaoping as an oppressor. I think of somebody who, faced with that crisis, made a very painful and decision with which I cannot agree. But I also think of him as a great reformer. — Henry A. Kissinger

Self-discipline leads to higher spiritual states only if practiced with under- standing. The clearer the goal, the greater the result. — Ming-Dao Deng

The follower of Tao is always flexible and adaptable to circumstance. — Ming-Dao Deng

Receive without complaint, Work with fate. — Ming-Dao Deng

Reform is China's second revolution. — Deng Xiaoping

We cannot allow ourselves to be hobbled by the woes and alienation of our race or nation. It is our responsibility to overcome these, even if we can only succeed in our hearts. — Ming-Dao Deng

Cross the river by feeling for stones. — Deng Xiaoping

My grandmother died in childbirth, and my great-aunt lived with us. She had bound feet. She never knew how to read or write. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

I really make sure that my girls understand the importance of education. I don't want them to be spoilt and only know private school kids. I want them to behave well by example. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

Let some people get rich first. — Deng Xiaoping

Do not debate! is one of my inventions. — Deng Xiaoping

It doesn't matter if a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice. — Deng Xiaoping

Even if they're functioning out of ignorance, they are still participating and must be suppressed. In China, even one million people can be considered a small sum. — Deng Xiaoping

Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining a low profile; and never claim leadership. — Deng Xiaoping

As for what other people think of me, I could worry about that every day, but choose not to. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

We just couldn't hit shots. We had good looks but they weren't falling and we kept turning the ball over. — Luol Deng

The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves. — Deng Xiaoping

What is it like to feel Tao? It is an effortless flowing, a sweeping momentum. It is like bird song soaring and gliding over a vast landscape. You can feel this in your life: Events will take on a perfect momentum, a glorious cadence. You can feel it in your body: The energy will rise up in you in a thrilling crescendo, setting your very nerves aglow. You can feel it in your spirit: You will enter a state of such perfect grace that you will resound over the landscape of reality like ephemeral bird song.
When Tao comes to you in this way, ride it for all that you are worth. Don't interfere. Don't stop - that brings failure, alienation, and regret. Don't try to direct it. Let it flow and follow it. When the Tao is with you, put aside all other concerns. As long as the song lasts, follow. Just follow. — Ming-Dao Deng

The Soviet Union would never be bound by agreements, Deng warned; it understood only the language of countervailing force. — Henry Kissinger

Young people need compassion and guidance, not obscure mysticism. Here are some guidelines for young people: Remember that you are always your own person. Do not surrender your mind, heart, or body to any person. Never compromise your dignity for any reason. Maintain your health with sound diet, hygiene, exercise, and clean living. Don't engage in drugs or drinking. Money is never more important than your body and mind, but you must work and support yourself. Never depend on others for your livelihood. — Ming-Dao Deng

No matter how bad the situation is, if you can't find any humor then life is not worth it. — Alephonsion Deng

I don't care if the cat is black or white, I just want it to kill the mice. — Deng Xiaoping

There is no language of the holy. The sacred lies in the ordinary. — Ming-Dao Deng

Whoever Barcelona are playing, you're just interested to watch because Messi's playing. — Luol Deng

The primary point of this existence is to live, and all living things move and grow. Therefore meditation should be integrated with the flow of life. It should not dominate above all else. — Ming-Dao Deng

Expression is never helped by suppression. — Ming-Dao Deng

Rain scatters plum petals; Weeping stains the earth. One can only take shelter And wait for clearing. — Ming-Dao Deng

[There is a] gulf that can exist between different emotional and perceptual worlds - all 'Chinese' - in recent times [post-Deng Xiaoping]. — Mark Elvin

Life is a constant series of opportunities. If we don't reach out for things, if we don't take advantage of what comes our way, then we cannot be in harmony with the essential nature of life. — Ming-Dao Deng

An ancient gnarled tree: Too fibrous for a logger's saw, Too twisted to fit a carpenter's square, Outlasts the whole forest. — Ming-Dao Deng

Until the Nineteen-Eighties, when Deng Xiaoping designated the area as China's first special economic zone, Shenzhen had been a tiny fishing village. Suddenly, eleven million people appeared, seemingly out of nowhere; factories sprang up, often housed in hastily constructed tower blocks. — Michael Specter

I didn't ever plan to be a producer, and I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

The appreciation of life does not require wealth or plenty. It requires only gratitude for the beauty of the world. — Ming-Dao Deng

Grappling with fate is like meeting an expert wrestler: to escape, you have to accept the fall when you are thrown. The only thing that counts is whether you get back up. — Ming-Dao Deng

They were just accidents. Luke said he was just testing my concussion. I'm not mad at him. — Luol Deng

When our thousands of Chinese students abroad return home, you will see how China will transform itself. — Deng Xiaoping

He took over, and he said: 'If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it.'" - Recalling how former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping dealt with the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests — Lee Kuan Yew

Whether we remain the ash or become the phoenix is up to us. — Ming-Dao Deng

A funeral is for those left behind. Sometimes, one wonders if the weeping is more out of fear for ourselves than it is sympathy for the deceased. — Ming-Dao Deng

The minority yields to the majority! — Deng Xiaoping

All teachings are mere references. The true experience is living your own life. Then, even the holiest of words are only words. — Ming-Dao Deng

The traditional family table is round. No corners. No sides. No head. No tail. Everything is smooth. The food is in the center, and each family member reaches over the same distance. Someone you love is next to you on each side, and no one is last or at the end. The person farthest away from you is also the person facing you. — Deng Ming-Dao

From what I could see, men or women, children or adults, young or aged, rich or poor, war was making everyone equal. — Alephonsion Deng

Once you have seen the face of God, you see the same face on everyone you meet. — Ming-Dao Deng

Even on the road to hell, flowers can make you smile. — Ming-Dao Deng

I had never been in a supermarket before coming to America. At home, my parents wouldn't let me open the refrigerator, because they worried I'd damage the door by opening it too many times. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

If the masses feel some anger, we must let them express it. — Deng Xiaoping

Be reasonable with the students and make sure they see the logic in what we're doing. — Deng Xiaoping

Let us be sad; it is feeling that makes us human. — Ming-Dao Deng

By following the concept of one country, two systems, you dont swallow me up nor I you. — Deng Xiaoping

As Deng Xiaoping once said, "I don't care if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice." The Stoics had their own reminder: "Don't go expecting Plato's Republic." Because — Ryan Holiday

Since China embraced Deng Xiaoping's reforms on 22 December 1978, China has experimented with different exchange-rate regimes. Until 1994, the yuan was in an ever-depreciating phase against the U.S. dollar. — Steve Hanke

As much as I want to stay on the team
I love Chicago, I love the Bulls
at the same time, I know the business part of it. Sooner or later, all the rumors are going to come up. — Luol Deng

By being receptive, we can avail ourselves of the spiritual wealth available to us. By being open, we can receive things beyond what we ourselves might imagine. — Ming-Dao Deng

The idea that each of us can be directly spiritual is radical. Most religions are based not on teaching adherents to be directly spiritual, but in persuading them to trust in the intercession of ministers or priests. The problem with this approach is that we cannot gain access to spirituality except through the medium of a fallible human being. If we want to see Tao, we need only open our eyes and trust what we see. — Ming-Dao Deng

Eventually, the time of action must come. When this happens, be a winner! Don't settle for mediocre results. Don't try to stay even. Go for it all! — Ming-Dao Deng

Those who don't know how to suffer are the worst off. There are times when the only correct thing we can do is to bear out troubles until a better day. — Ming-Dao Deng

China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one ... If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialist, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it. — Deng Xiaoping

Those truly linked don't need correspondence. When they meet again after many years apart, Their friendship is as true as ever. — Ming-Dao Deng

- If it's like us, why is it somewhere else? Deng asked. Dut — Dave Eggers

Seek truth from facts. — Deng Xiaoping

When it is time to part, then it is time to part. There should be no regrets. The beauty of marriage is like the fleeting perfection of a snowflake. — Ming-Dao Deng

Cooperation with others. Perception, experience, tenacity. Know when to lead and when to follow. — Ming-Dao Deng

A moving door hinge never corrodes. Flowing water never grows stagnant. — Ming-Dao Deng

He'd say, "If my mother was here, I wouldn't be like this." We'd say, "Shut up boy, you're not in your mama's house no more." We said that a lot. As children, seven or eight years old, we know nothing about the world, just that we were not in mama's house no more. — Alephonsion Deng

Poverty is not socialism. To be rich is glorious. — Deng Xiaoping

Reject labels. Reject identities. Reject conformity. Reject convention. Reject definitions. Reject names. — Ming-Dao Deng

Use a mirror in difficult times. You will see both cause and resolution. — Ming-Dao Deng

Keep life simple ... turn toward the divine. It satisfies, it brings knowledge, and it brings joy. — Ming-Dao Deng

If i dont want to be known, i cannot be known.the best actor can divide role from self.the best liar can divide truth from falsity. — Ming-Dao Deng

We may be floating on Tao, but there is nothing wrong with steering. If Tao is like a river, it is certainly good to know where the rocks are. — Ming-Dao Deng

Do you want to know how spirituality works? Breathe. — Ming-Dao Deng

One especially prominent time loop lashes together two of the city's most celebrated high-rises -- the Park Hotel and the Jin Mao Tower -- binding the Puxi of Old Shanghai with the Pudong New Area. Each was the tallest Shanghai building of its age (judged by highest occupied floor), the Park Hotel for five decades, the Jin Mao Tower for just nine years. This discrepancy masks a deeper time-symmetry in the completion dates of the two buildings: the Park Hotel seven years prior to the closing of the city (with the Japanese occupation of the International Settlement in 1941), the Jin Mao Tower seven years after the city's formal re-opening (as the culmination of Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour, in 1992). — Nick Land

The moon does not fight. It attacks no one. It does not worry. It does not try to crush others. It keeps to its course, but by its very nature, it gently influences. What other body could pull an entire ocean from shore to shore? The moon is faithful to its nature and its power is never diminished. — Ming-Dao Deng

My children speak very good Chinese, and they translate for our American friends. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

Who you are is always right. — Ming-Dao Deng

Sharing the same meal reaffirms kinship. — Deng Ming-Dao

I had come to expect that Chinese friends would make financial decisions that I found uncomfortably risky: launching businesses with their savings, moving across the country without the assurance of a job. One explanation, which Weber and Hsee call "the cushion hypothesis," is that traditionally large Chinese family networks afford people confidence that they can turn to others for help if their risk-taking does not succeed. Another theory is more specific to the boom years. "The economic reforms undertaken by Deng Xiaoping were a gamble in themselves," Ricardo Siu, a business professor at the University of Macau, told me. "So people got the idea that taking a risk is not just okay; it has utility." For those who have come from poverty to the middle class, he added, "the thinking may be, If I lose half my money, well, I've lived through that. I won't be poor again. And in several years I can earn it back. But if I win? I'm a millionaire! — Evan Osnos

Markings in dry clay disappear
Only when the clay is soft again.
Scars upon the self disappear
Only when one becomes soft within. — Ming-Dao Deng

It is said that if one chooses to pray to a rock with enough devotion, even that rock will come alive. — Ming-Dao Deng

I believe if you are nice to people, children will follow. Likewise, if you are rude to people, children will follow. — Wendi Deng Murdoch

Comrade Deng Xiaoping - along with other party elders - gave the party leadership their firm and full support to put down the political disturbance using forceful measures. — Li Peng