China is a vast, disparate country; there is no alternative to strong central power.
Lee Kuan YewRead
At the end of the day, is Singapore society better or worse off? That's the test.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The value of a society is determined by the well-being of its people.
This quote by Lee Kuan Yew emphasizes the importance of evaluating a society based on the daily experiences and overall well-being of its members. He suggests that societal progress should ultimately be judged by whether people's lives improve over time, making it a measure of effective governance and social policies.
Themes
SocietyWell-BeingProgressEvaluationGovernance
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about public policy effectiveness, one could quote Lee Kuan Yew to emphasize the importance of outcomes for society.
More from Lee Kuan Yew
All quotes βI can feel the gradual decline of energy and vitality. And I mean generally, every year, when you know you are not on the same level as last year. But that's life.
Lee Kuan YewRead
Political reform need not go hand in hand with economic liberalization.. I hold unconventional views about this.. I do not believe if you are a libertarian, full of diverse opinions, full of competing ideas in the market place, full of sound and fury, therefore you will succeed.
Lee Kuan YewRead
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 ideology, say let us make the human being as equal as possible. In fact, he is not equal, never will be.
Lee Kuan YewRead
They say, oh, letβs have multiparty politics. Letβs have different parties change and be in charge of the Government. Is it that simple? You vote in a Division Three government, not a Division One government, and the whole economy will just subside within three, four years. Finished.
Lee Kuan YewRead
America's greatest long-term influence on China comes from playing host to the thousands of students who come from China each year, some of the ablest Chinese scholars and scientists. They will be the most powerful agents for change in China.
Lee Kuan YewRead
Similar quotes
You are dealing with people who have taken the responsibility of killing their own because they think that they are right, they think that they are serving the interests of their people. They not going to give that up easily, just because you've shown up.
Lakhdar BrahimiRead
Gods, religions and national boundaries are absolutely imaginary. They don't tend to exist. As soon as you pull back half a mile and look down at the Earth there are no national boundaries. There aren't even national boundaries when you get down and walk around. They're just imaginary lines we draw on maps. I just get fascinated by people who assume that things that are imaginary have no relevance to their lives.
Neil GaimanRead
How can non-existence get sick of itself? Everytime you wake up, you appear again out of nowhere. And so does everything else. Death just means the replacement of the usual morning waking with something else, something quite impossible even to think about. We don't even have the instrument to do it, because our mind & our world are the same thing.
Victor PelevinRead
You don't reason with intellectuals. You shoot them.
Napoleon BonaparteRead
Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please; they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encountered, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living.
Karl MarxRead
How often misused words generate misleading thoughts.
Herbert SpencerRead