The Singapore Story Quotes

“The task of the leaders must be to provide or create for them a strong framework within which they can learn, work hard, be productive and be rewarded accordingly. And this is not easy to achieve.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“After trying out a number of ways to reduce inequalities and failing, I was gradually forced to conclude that the decisive factors were the people, their natural abilities, education and training. Knowledge and the possession of technology were vital for the creation of wealth.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“Men are not born equal in either physical or mental capacity. But a socialist believes that society as a whole will benefit, and there will be more happiness for more people, if all are given equal opportunities for education and advancement regardless of class or property.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“I was also troubled by the apparent over-confidence of a generation that has only known stability, growth and prosperity. I thought our people should understand how vulnerable Singapore was and is, the dangers that beset us, and how we nearly did not make it. Most of all, I hope that they will know that honest and effective government, public order and personal security, economic and social progress did not come about as the natural course of events.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“You need, besides determination, all the other attributes that will push a project along. You must have application, you must be prepared to work hard, you must be prepared to get people to work with you.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“The Japanese high command recognised the sexual needs of the men and provided for them. As a consequence, rape was not frequent.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“I wanted someone my equal, not someone who was not really grown up and needed looking after, and I was not likely to find another girl who was my equal and who shared my interests”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“That which is written without much effort is seldom read with much pleasure.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“I noticed that Asiatics were now referred to as Asians in the papers. I was told that sometime in 1953 the British press had started to use “Asian” because “Asiatic” had a touch of condescension or disrespect, and the change was a concession to the people of India, Pakistan and Ceylon, now independent. I did not understand how this improved their status. When young London children called me a Chinaman or a Chink, it did not trouble me. If they meant it as a term of abuse, my business was to make them think differently one day.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“It was the first time I had left Singapore to go overseas. I was being exposed to a new world of the hates and loves, the prejudices and biases of different peoples”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“But for a very small number of people, what we stood for could easily have done a great deal of good for Malaysia and established it for many centuries to come as a stable and viable multiracial nation. ... Kinship and feelings for one another cannot be legislated out by a political decision.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“countered,”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story (Student Edition): Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“Marshall had taught me how not to be soft and weak when dealing with the communists. Lim Yew Hock taught me how not to be tough and flat-footed. Lim did not understand that the communist game was to make him lose the support of the masses, the Chinese-speaking people, and to destroy his credibility as a leader who was acting in their interests.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story (Student Edition): Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“They had no confidence in themselves and even less in their own kind.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story : Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“I was suffering from culture shock before the phrase was coined”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew