Quote

We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.

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
People
Singapore
Decide
Right
Mind
Never
Think
Thinking

More quotes by Lee Kuan Yew

Image
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
Image
Please do not assume that you can change governments. Young people don’t understand this.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
What are our priorities? First, the welfare, the survival of the people. Then, democratic norms and processes which from time to time we have to suspend.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
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
Image
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
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
At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
I think in Singapore, we stand a chance of making the one-man-one-vote system work. With amendments as we have done, you know, like GRCs.. We need to make it work. And I believe with pragmatic adjustments, given these favourable conditions, we can have more open debate.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
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
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 am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
Freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore, and to the primacy of purpose of an elected government.
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
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
Image
I always tried to be correct, not politically correct.
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
If you can't think because you can't chew, try a banana.
Lee Kuan Yew
Image
China can draw on a talent pool of 1.3 billion people, but the United States can draw on a talent pool of 7 billion and recombine them in a diverse culture that enhances creativity in a way that ethnic Han nationalism cannot.
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
Rest on laurels? I wish I could do that. No, you rest when you're dead
Lee Kuan Yew