One Man's View of the World

by Lee Kuan Yew

So my impression of him is, he will continue Deng Xiaoping’s policy of keeping your light under your bushel, or tao guang yang hui.

The wise man was being wrong.

I thought to myself: “They should be in school studying, and not wasting their time travelling from their schools to the airport and then back to the schools, losing a whole day’s schoolwork.”

If I had to be a refugee, like the former South Vietnamese prime minister, Cao Ky, who went to California, I would probably choose Britain, which I consider a less stressful society.

if the Americans fight the Vietnamese, which they did, after a certain period, they can shake hands again. But if Japan fights China, even after 100 years, they cannot shake hands.

One, that democracy is no magic potion. It does not solve all problems for all peoples. China would not have got to where it is today if it had been run as a democracy. Two, that there are certain fundamental forces at work in societies – especially those with long histories – that do not change easily. India is trapped by the almost unchangeable realities of its internal composition and the persistent grip of the caste system.

from scratch.

From the very begnning

When I was in Iran on the invitation of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, before he was overthrown, I was put up in one of the Shah’s palaces. I still remember the carpets – they were so fine that if I owned them, I would probably put them up on the wall. But in the palace, you just walked on them.

“There are really only two civilisations in Asia worth talking about – China and Persia.”

Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Maktoum,

You must meet people, because you must have human contact if you want to broaden your perspective.

“I enjoy my solitude.

“You told us to unite against the Russian bear, but my neighbours want to unite against the Chinese dragon. It is not the bear that is threatening them, it is your radio station, your money to the guerillas in Thailand, in Malaysia and elsewhere that is threatening them.” I expected bluster back