Measure Of A Man: A Millennial's Favorite Lee Kuan Yew Quotes

Words from Singapore's first Prime Minister.

On Singapore's growth

Via pinterest.com

"But I say to you: here we make the model multiracial society. This not a country that belongs to any single community - it belongs to all of us. You helped it; your fathers, your grandfathers helped build this.... your father's labour which built that. Over a hundred years ago this was a mud-flat swamp. Today this is a modern city. Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis. Never fear."

On love

Via mothership.sg

"I have precious memories of our 63 years together. Without her, I would be a different man, with a different life. She devoted herself to me and our children. She was always there when I needed her. She has lived a life full of warmth and meaning."

On death

Via vulcanpost.com

"Even from my sickbed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel that something is going wrong, I will get up."

On the Fourth Estate

Via journalism.sg

"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."

"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. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn't be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters - who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think."

On Training a Population

"Mine is a very matter-of-fact approach to the problem. If you can select a population and they're educated and they're properly brought up, then you don't have to use too much of the stick because they would already have been trained. It's like with dogs. You train it in a proper way from small. It will know that it's got to leave, go outside to pee and to defecate. No, we are not that kind of society. We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately urinate in the lifts."

On Being Tough

"I did some sharp and hard things to get things right. Maybe some people disapproved of it. Too harsh, but a lot was at stake and I wanted the place to succeed, that's all. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life," he once said.

On Leadership in Government

"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."

On Life

“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.”

On Building Singapore

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“Whoever governs Singapore must have that iron in him. Or give it up. This is not a game of cards. This is your life and mine. I’ve spent a whole lifetime building this and as long as I’m in charge, nobody is going to knock it down.”