If you’ve spent enough time with me in recent years, you would know that I am a huge admirer of Lee Kuan Yew. ¹ As the founding prime minister of Singapore, he is most well known for transforming the city state from a fishing village into a nation with one of the highest GDP per capitas in the world. He embodies many of the traits that I aspire to possess - intellect, independent thought, straightforwardness, discipline, work ethic, and fantastic oratory skills. I often find myself referring to resources about him or by him, and this post serves as a collection of some of my favourites.

Links

• Charlie Munger on Lee Kuan Yew
• Famous speech after Singapore Airlines pilot strikes
• On the decline of the United Kingdom
• Address at joint session of US Congress, 1985 (standing ovation)
• Meet the Press, 1967, incredible rhetoric
• On Marriage
• On Gandhi
• On India viz a viz China
• On Singapore’s declining birth rate
• On human rights violations
• The human being is an unequal creature
• On ancient religions
• Follow the rainbow
• On jury trial
• Palladium on the Singapore ‘model’

Quotes

• “We believed in socialism, in fair shares for all. Later, we learned that personal motivation and personal rewards were essential for a productive economy. However, because people are unequal in their abilities, if performance and rewards are determined by the marketplace, there will be a few big winners, many medium winners, and a considerable number of losers. That would make for social tensions because a society’s sense of fairness is offended. …Our difficulty was to strike the right balance.”
• “At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.”
• “We are pragmatists. We don’t stick to any ideology. Does it work? Let’s try it, and if it does work, fine, let’s continue it. If it doesn’t work, toss it out, try another one. We are not enamored with any ideology.”
• “I always tried to be correct, not politically correct.”
• “There is a glorious rainbow that beckons those with the spirit of adventure. And there are rich findings at the end of that rainbow. To the young and the not too old, I say look at the horizon, find that rainbow, go ride it. Not all will be rich; quite a few will find a vein of gold; but all who pursue that rainbow will have a joyous and exhilarating ride and some profit.”
• “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.”
• “Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless.”
• “They say people can think for themselves? Do you honestly believe that the chap who can’t pass primary six knows the consequence of his choice when he answers a question viscerally, on language, culture and religion? But we knew the consequences. We would starve, we would have race riots. We would disintegrate.”
• “You’re talking about Rwanda or Bangladesh, or Cambodia, or the Philippines. They’ve got democracy, according to Freedom House. But have you got a civilised life to lead? People want economic development first and foremost. The leaders may talk something else. 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.”
• “The human being is an unequal creature. That is a fact. And we start off with the proposition. All the great religions, all the great movements, all the great political ideologies, say let us make the human being as equal as possible. In fact, he is not equal, never will be.”
• “The American culture…is that we start from scratch and beat you. That is why I have confidence that the American economy will recover. They were going down against Japan and Germany in manufacturing. But they came up with the Internet, Microsoft and Bill Gates, and Dell…What kind of mindset do you need for that? It is part of their history. They went into an empty continent and made the best of it—killed the Red Indians and took over the land and the buffaloes. So this is how they ended up—you build a town here, you be the sheriff, I am the judge, you are the policeman, and you are the banker, let us start. And this culture has carried on until today. There is the belief that you can make it happen”
• “India is a nation of unfulfilled greatness. Its potential has lain fallow, underused”
• “India is not a real country. Instead, it is 32 separate nations that happen to be arrayed along the British rail line.”
• “On 14 August 1947, when I was a young student in Cambridge, I remember vividly the moving and unforgettable opening of Nehru’s broadcast on the eve of independence, ‘Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.’…In January 1996, I visited New Delhi and spoke to civil servants and businessmen on the changes that Prime Minister Rao and his team were putting into place. I said that India’s ‘tryst with destiny’ had been repeatedly postponed.”
• “When our children were still in school, years before I raised the unmarried graduate women issue in 1983, Choo and I had told them that when they marry they must be happy to have their children as bright only as their spouses. They married their equals.”
• “The 21st century will be a contest for supremacy in the Pacific, because that is where the growth will be. That is where the bulk of the economic strength of the globe will come from. If the U.S. does not hold its ground in the Pacific, it cannot be a world leader.”
• “I am not intellectually convinced that one person, one vote is the best. We practice it because that is what the British bequeathed us, and we have not really found a need to challenge that. But I am convinced, personally, that we would have a better system if we gave every person over the age of 40 who has a family two votes, because he or she is likely to be more careful, voting also for his or her children. He or she is more likely to vote in a serious way than a capricious young person under 30…At the same time, once a person gets beyond 65, then it is a problem. Between the ages of 40 and 60 is ideal, and at 60 they should go back to one vote, but that will be difficult to arrange”

Quotes about Lee Kuan Yew

• “In my long life in public service, I have encountered many bright, able people. None is more impressive than Lee Kuan Yew.” - George HW Bush
• “In office, I read and analyzed every speech of Lee’s. He had a way of penetrating the fog of propaganda and expressing with unique clarity the issues of our times and the way to tackle them. He was never wrong.” - Margaret Thatcher
• “I have had the privilege of meeting many world leaders over the past half century; none, however, has taught me more than Lee Kuan Yew” - Henry Kissinger
• “Lee is the smartest leader I think I ever met.” - Tony Blair
• “More than 40 years ago, Lee Kuan Yew transformed what was a poor, decrepit colony into a shining, rich, and modern metropolis—all the time surrounded by hostile powers. With his brilliant, incisive intellect, he is one of the world’s most outspoken and respected statesmen.” - Rupert Murdoch