Chairman Mao Zedong Oppose Book Worship - Page 3

Section II. To Investigate a Problem is to Solve It

When they come across difficult problems, quite a number of people in leading positions simply heave a sigh without being able to solve them. They lose patience and ask to be transferred on the ground that they have "not the ability and cannot do the job". These are cowards' words. Just get moving on your two legs, go the rounds of every section placed under your charge and "inquire into everything" as Confucius did, and then you will be able to solve the problems, however little your ability; for although your head may be empty before you go out of doors, it will be empty no longer when you return but will contain all sorts of material necessary for the solution of the problems, and that is how problems are solved. Must you go out of doors? Not necessarily. You can call a fact-finding meeting of people familiar with the situation in order to get at the source of what you call a difficult problem and come to know how it stands now, and then it will be easy to solve your difficult problem.

Investigation may be likened to the long months of pregnancy, and solving a problem to the day of birth. To investigate a problem is, indeed, to solve it.