Top 41 Quotes & Sayings by Liu Xiaobo

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Chinese critic Liu Xiaobo.

Last updated on December 21, 2024.

Liu Xiaobo was a Chinese writer, literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end communist one-party rule in China. He was arrested numerous times, and has been described as China's most prominent dissident and the country's most famous political prisoner. On 26 June 2017, he was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with liver cancer; he died a few weeks later on 13 July 2017.

Chinese - Critic | December 28, 1955 - July 13, 2017

Source: Wikipedia

I do my best to make every word from my pen a cry from the heart for the souls of the dead.

Liu Xiaobo

China, as a major nation of the world, as one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and as a member of the U.N. Council on Human Rights, should be contributing to peace for humankind and progress toward human rights.

Liu Xiaobo

I always think that reforms and turning China into a free country is a long and tortuous process. Despite this, in a totalitarian state, the fight for freedom comes from the accumulative efforts of the people; without such efforts, very little will happen.

Liu Xiaobo

Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth.

Liu Xiaobo

From B.A. to M.A. and on to Ph.D., my academic career was all smooth sailing. Upon receiving my degrees, I stayed on to teach at Beijing Normal University.

Liu Xiaobo

Appreciation has become my destiny in life. Perhaps it's the instinct of a polar bear enjoying hibernation in the vast snows.

Liu Xiaobo

If there has been any progress in the Chinese society and politics over the last 20 years, it is all because the citizens have been pushing for change.

Liu Xiaobo

If you want to enter hell, don't complain of the dark; you can't blame the world for being unfair if you start on the path of the rebel.

Liu Xiaobo

The Internet is truly God's gift to the Chinese people.

Liu Xiaobo

I hope that I will be the last victim in China's long record of treating words as crimes.

Liu Xiaobo

Our political system continues to produce human rights disasters and social crises, thereby not only constricting China's own development but also limiting the progress of all of human civilization.

Liu Xiaobo

My dear, with your love I can calmly face my impending trial, having no regrets about the choices I've made and optimistically awaiting tomorrow.

Liu Xiaobo

My praise is perhaps an unforgivable poison.

Liu Xiaobo

It took Hong Kong 100 years to become what it is.

Liu Xiaobo

Ultimately, change will happen when problems persist and enough people are concerned.

Liu Xiaobo

In the course of my life, for more than half a century, June 1989 was the major turning point. Up to that point, I was a member of the first class to enter university when college entrance examinations were reinstated following the Cultural Revolution (Class of '77).

Liu Xiaobo

There is no force that can put an end to the human quest for freedom, and China will, in the end, become a nation ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme.

Liu Xiaobo

My searing desire to atone for having survived helps me resist the temptations to join the world of lies.

Liu Xiaobo

The major wars that the U.S. became involved in are all ethically defensible.

Liu Xiaobo

The free world led by the U.S. fought almost all regimes that trampled on human rights.

Liu Xiaobo

In my view, Reform and Opening Up began with the abandonment of the 'using class struggle as guiding principle' government policy of the Mao era and, in its place, a commitment to economic development and social harmony.

Liu Xiaobo

In China the underworld and officialdom have interpenetrated and become one. Criminal elements have become officialized as officials have become criminalized.

Liu Xiaobo

For those of us in the opposition movement under dictatorships, part of our job is confronting police and spending time in prison. So, a dissident not only needs to learn how to oppose oppression but also how to face the crackdowns and time in prison.

Liu Xiaobo

I have been obsequious toward Western civilization, exaggerating its merits and, at the same time, exaggerating my own merits.

Liu Xiaobo

I have no enemies and no hatred. None of the police who monitored, arrested, and interrogated me, none of the prosecutors who indicted me, and none of the judges who judged me are my enemies.

Liu Xiaobo

Hatred is corrosive of a person's wisdom and conscience; the mentality of enmity can poison a nation's spirit, instigate brutal life and death struggles, destroy a society's tolerance and humanity, and block a nation's progress to freedom and democracy.

Liu Xiaobo

Love as intense as ice, love as remote as blackness.

Liu Xiaobo

I have viewed the West as if it were not only the salvation of China but also the natural and ultimate destination of all humanity.

Liu Xiaobo

In order to exercise the right to freedom of speech conferred by the Constitution, one should fulfill the social responsibility of a Chinese citizen.

Liu Xiaobo

My tendency to idealize Western civilization arises from my nationalistic desire to use the West in order to reform China. But this has led me to overlook the flaws of Western culture.

Liu Xiaobo

Now the entire world has its eyes on China.

Liu Xiaobo

I hope that I'm not the type of person who, standing at the doorway to hell, strikes a heroic pose and then starts frowning with indecision.

Liu Xiaobo

I've heard the government say many nice things. But it did make some gestures, like writing human rights protection into the constitution - that surprised me. And it improved the conditions for foreign journalists: It used to be impossible for you to meet with me personally. But there still hasn't been a real improvement in the human rights situation.

Liu Xiaobo

China after Olympics will progress very slowly. But the demands for freedom - on the part of ordinary people but also party members - won't be as easy to contain.

Liu Xiaobo

I can't imagine here would be a Chinese Gorbachev. But the party will gradually open up. For instance, it has already set a time limit for political reforms in Hong Kong. And in four years time, there won't be a strongman to name the General Secretary at the party congress. That means that the various factions will have to develop better rules for naming their leader. But there won't be a timeline for political reform.

Liu Xiaobo

For the party, the Beijing Games are the biggest political happening of 2008. Everything revolves around them. This will be a huge celebration for the President Hu Jintao and the Premier Wen Jiabao.

Liu Xiaobo

Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, and the mother of truth.

Liu Xiaobo

Life is priceless even to an ant.

Liu Xiaobo

I have no enemies and no hatred.

Liu Xiaobo

If the Olympics fail, human rights will suffer. The government would stop paying any attention to the rest of the world. I personally think: we want the Games and we want human rights to be respected.

Liu Xiaobo

The Party leader at the time, Jiang Zemin, wanted to show the world China's new status. And in winning the bid, the leaders could show the people how strong the government was. Plus, the leadership wanted to use the Olympics to strengthen nationalist sentiment.

Liu Xiaobo

Top 41 Quotes & Sayings by Liu Xiaobo

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