Mao was an idealist in the strictest sense of the word, a man who believed that how you did something mattered more than the results, often with disastrous consequences. 
Mao alikuwa muumini wa udhanifu kama tafsiri ya neno linavyotanabaisha, mtu aliyeamini kuwa, mchakato wa utendaji wa jambo ndilo jambo la msingi sana kuliko matokeo yake, mara nyingi hata kama matokeo yanakuwa mabaya.