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We have to lock up people, without trial, whether they are communists, whether they are language chauvinists, whether they are religious extremists. If you don’t do that, the country would be in ruins.

Lee Kuan Yew

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Lee Kuan Yew
Age: 91 †
Born: 1923
Born: September 16
Died: 2015
Died: March 23
Autobiographer
Lawyer
Philosopher
Politician
Singaporean Politician
Statesperson
Republic of Singapore
LKY
Harry Lee
MM Lee
Li Guangyao
Religious
Communists
Whether
Extremist
Language
Lock
Without
Locks
Country
Trial
Would
Communist
People
Ruins
Trials
Extremists

More quotes by Lee Kuan Yew

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There is nothing to prevent you from pushing your propaganda, to push your programme out to the students or with the public at large…and if you can carry the ground, if you are right, you win. That’s democracy.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Usually I read biographies of interesting people. I am not attracted to novels - make-believe, or recreations of what people think life should be.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Political reform need not go hand in hand with economic liberalization.. I hold unconventional views about this.. I do not believe if you are a libertarian, full of diverse opinions, full of competing ideas in the market place, full of sound and fury, therefore you will succeed.
Lee Kuan Yew
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I’m very determined. If I decide that something is worth doing, then I’ll put my heart and soul to it. The whole ground can be against me, but if I know it is right, I’ll do it.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Without the elected president and if there is a freak result, within two or three years, the army would have to come in and stop it.
Lee Kuan Yew
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One-man-one-vote is a most difficult form of government.. Results can be erratic.
Lee Kuan Yew
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I started off believing all men were equal. I now know that's the most unlikely thing ever to have been... But by observation, reading, watching, arguing, asking, that is the conclusion I've come to.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Every person, genius or moron, has a right to reproduce himself.
Lee Kuan Yew
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I don't think I made a conscious decision as a career choice. From my school days I had decided, persuaded by my parents, to prepare myself for the law. Then the Japanese occupation came and we went through three and a half years of what I would call the university of life, it was hard, it was harsh.
Lee Kuan Yew
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We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.
Lee Kuan Yew
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I don't believe in love at first sight. I think it's a grave mistake.
Lee Kuan Yew
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At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.
Lee Kuan Yew
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You take a poll of any people. What is it they want? The right to write an editorial as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Most libels, and I have taken about 30 actions, take place at election time. It has not stuck because I am prepared to go before a court, stand in the witness box and face the most aggressive of lawyers who can cross-examine me on my personal history.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle-dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no way you can govern a Chinese society.
Lee Kuan Yew
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The human being needs a challenge, and my advice to every person in Singapore and elsewhere: Keep yourself interested, have a challenge.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Please do not assume that you can change governments. Young people don’t understand this.
Lee Kuan Yew
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For the young, let me tell you the sky has turned brighter. There's a glorious rainbow that beckons those with the spirit of adventure. And there are rich findings at the end of the rainbow. To the young and to the not-so-old, I say, look at that horizon, follow that rainbow, go ride it.
Lee Kuan Yew
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I wouldn't call myself an atheist. I neither deny nor accept that there is a God... So I do not laugh at people who believe in God. But I do not necessarily believe in God - nor deny that there could be one.
Lee Kuan Yew
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Nine holes of golf will take you one-and-a-half, two hours. I run in 20 minutes, I feel better off. So the cost benefit made me drop golf.
Lee Kuan Yew