Quote

If there was one formula for our success,it was that we were constantly studying how to make things work,or how to make them work better.

Lee Kuan Yew

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Better
Work
Make
Formula
Things
Studying
Formulas
Constantly
Study
Success

More quotes by Lee Kuan Yew

Image
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
Image
At the end of the day, what I cherish most are the human relationships. With the unfailing support of my wife and partner I have lived my life to the fullest. It is the friendships I made and the close family ties I nurtured that have provided me with that sense of satisfaction at a life well lived, and have made me what I am.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
The big nest was in Afghanistan, thats not quite cleared, then there are nests in the Philippines, there are nests in Indonesia, the Malaysians are clearing up their nests.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
With few exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new developing countries. What Asians value may not necessarily be what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural backround, my values are for a government which is honest, effective and efficient.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
You begin your journey not knowing where it will take you. You have plans, you have dreams, but every now and again you have to take uncharted roads, face impassable mountains, cross treacherous rivers, be blocked by landslides and earthquakes. That's the way my life has been.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
Now if democracy will not work for the Russians, a white Christian people, can we assume that it will naturally work with Asians?
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
It is not the practice, now will I allow subversives to get away by insisting that I’ve got to prove everything against them in a court of law or [produce] evidence that will stand up to the strict rules of evidence of a court of law.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
If you can't think because you can't chew, try a banana.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
If you don’t include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society…So what happens? There will be less bright people to support dumb people in the next generation. That’s a problem.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
Life is not just eating, drinking, television and cinema...The human mind must be creative, must be self-generating it cannot depend on just gadgets to amuse itself.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
As you solve one set of problems, new ones appear. That is part of the nature of life.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
If you are a troublemaker, it’s our job to politically destroy you. Put it this way. As long as JB Jeyaretnam stands for what he stands for – a thoroughly destructive force – we will knock him. Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
I’m not interested in changing either my suit or my car or whatever with every change in fashion. That’s irrelevant. I don’t judge myself or my friends by their fashions. Of course, I don’t approve of people who are sloppy and unnecessarily shabby or dishevelled… But I’m not impressed by a US$5,000 or US$10,000 Armani suit.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
I always tried to be correct, not politically correct.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
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
Image
I'm not saying that everything I did was right, but everything I did was for an honourable purpose.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
Rest on laurels? I wish I could do that. No, you rest when you're dead
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
I feel sanguine enough to say that there has never been a better set of conditions for open democratic politics because there is no need for unified front politics.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
I ignore polling as a method of government. I think that shows a certain weakness of mind - an inability to chart a course whichever way the wind blows, whichever way the media encourages the people to go, you follow. If you can't force or are unwilling to force your people to follow you, with or without threats, you are not a leader.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
I have no regrets. I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. There's nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.
Lee Kuan Yew