Inspirational Quotations

Inspirational Quotes by Lee Kuan Yew (Singaporean Statesman)

Lee Kuan Yew (1923–2015) was a Singaporean political leader and one of the great statesmen of the post World War II-era. He was Singapore’s first prime minister and the architect of the small Southeast Asian city-state’s spectacular ascent from a British tropical outpost with no natural resources to a global trade and financial center, and one of the world’s wealthiest countries on a per capita basis.

Born in Singapore, Lee trained as a lawyer at Cambridge. Upon return to Singapore, he became an advocate and solicitor. He was the driving force behind the 1954 creation of the People’s Action Party (PAP,) which has governed Singapore since 1959. Lee served as prime minister for 31 years, and oversaw Singapore’s independence from Britain, joining the Malaysian federation in 1963, and separation from Malaysia in 1965.

Over the decades, Lee cultivated one of the world’s most famously efficient technocracies and led Singapore into a prosperous country. Singapore is neither a dictatorship nor a full democracy—it’s authoritarian political culture imposes restrictions on free speech and sometimes infringes on civil liberties. Its electoral system is skewed to maintain the majority of Lee’s party. Lee was also criticized for letting the courts target political opponents.

Lee stepped down as prime minister in 1990, handing power to Goh Chok Tong, but remained influential as a senior minister in Goh’s cabinet. When Lee’s eldest son, Lee Hsien Loong, became prime minister in 2004, Lee Kuan Yew became “minister mentor.” He retired in 2011. Lee’s other family members hold prominent positions in Singapore’s government and economy.

Lee’s works include the two-volume set of memoirs, The Singapore Story (1998) and From Third World to First (2000.) He also published The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew (2013) and One Man’s View of the World (2013.)

More: Wikipedia READ: Works by Lee Kuan Yew

I do not yet know of a man who became a leader as a result of having undergone a leadership course.
Lee Kuan Yew

I believe that life is a process of continuous change and a constant struggle to make that change one for the better.
Lee Kuan Yew

If you want to be popular all the time, you will misgovern.
Lee Kuan Yew

No, your job as a leader is to inspire and to galvanize, not to share your distraught thoughts. You make your people dispirited.
Lee Kuan Yew

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

What I fear is complacency. When things always become better, people tend to want more for less work.
Lee Kuan Yew

A nation is great not by its size alone. It is the will, the cohesion, the stamina, the discipline of its people and the quality of their leaders, which ensure it an honourable place in history.
Lee Kuan Yew

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

I don’t believe in love at first sight. I think it’s a grave mistake. You’re attracted by physical characteristics, and you will regret it.
Lee Kuan Yew

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.
Lee Kuan Yew

Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless.
Lee Kuan Yew

It is possible to create a society in which everybody is given not equal rewards, but equal opportunities, and where rewards vary not in accordance with the ownership of property, but with the worth of a person’s contribution to that society. In other words, society should make it worth people’s while to give their best to the country. This is the way to progress.
Lee Kuan Yew

History does not repeat itself in the same way each time, but certain trends and consequences are constants. If you do not know history, you think short term. If you know history, you think medium and long term.
Lee Kuan Yew
Topics: History

I have never been overconcerned or obsessed with opinion polls or popularity polls. I think a leader who is, is a weak leader. If you are concerned with whether your rating will go up or down, then you are not a leader. You are just catching the wind … you will go where the wind is blowing. And that’s not what I am in this for.
Lee Kuan Yew

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.
Lee Kuan Yew

If you are a troublemaker… it’s our job to politically destroy you… 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

I’m not interested in changing either my suit or my car or whatever with every change in fashion. That’s irrelevant. I don’t judge myself or my friends by their fashions. Of course, I don’t approve of people who are sloppy and unnecessarily shabby or dishevelled… But I’m not impressed by a $5,000 or $10,000 Armani suit.
Lee Kuan Yew

A society to be successful must maintain a balance between nurturing excellence and encouraging the average to improve.
Lee Kuan Yew

It is impossible to read the daily press without being diverted from reality. You are full of enthusiasm for the eternal verities—life is worth living, and then out of sinful curiosity you open a newspaper. You are disillusioned and wrecked.
Lee Kuan Yew
Topics: Media

That which is written without much effort is seldom read with much pleasure.
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

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