Good Quotes —— Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States and the World (1)

China wants to be China and accepted as such, not as an honorary member of the West.———Chapter 1: The Future of China

[China’s] creativity may never match America’s, because its culture does not permit a free exchange and contest of ideas.———Chapter 1: The Future of China

Chief among these [obstacles] are… a huge country in which little emperors across a vast expanse exercise greater local influence; cultural habits that limit imagination and creativity, rewarding conformity; a language that shapes thinking through epigrams and 4,000 years of texts that suggest everything worth saying has already been said, and said better by earlier writers; a language that is exceedingly difficult for foreigners to learn sufficiently to embrace China and be embraced by its society…———Chapter 1: The Future of China

To achieve modernization of China, her Communist leaders are prepared to try all and every method, except for democracy with one person and one vote in a multi-party system. Their two main reasons are their belief that the Communist Party of China must have a monopoly on power to ensure stability; and their deep fear of instability in a multiparty free-for-all, which would lead to a loss of control by the centre over the provinces, with horrendous consequences, like the war lord years of 1920s and ‘30s.———Chapter 1: The Future of China

Throughout history, all empires that succeeded have embraced and included in their midst people of other races, languages, religions, and cultures.———Chapter 2: The Future of the United States

Entrepreneurs and investors alike see risk and failure as natural and necessary for success. When they fail, they pick themselves up and start afresh.———Chapter 2: The Future of the United States

I do not believe that democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe that what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy. The exuberance of democracy leads to undisciplined and disorderly conditions which are inimical to development. The ultimate test of the value of a political system is whether it helps that society to establish conditions which improve the standard of living for the majority of its people, plus enabling the maximum of personal freedoms compatible with the freedoms of others in society.———Chapter 2: The Future of the United States

Good Quotes —— Lee Kuan Yew at 80 (2)

It is amazing the number of highly intelligent persons in the world who make no contribution at all to the well-being of their fellow men.

我很驚訝世上有許許多多才高智睿的人，居然對同胞的福利沒有半點貢獻。

[Valour] is when a man knows what the odds are, and he says, “Notwithstanding that, I must do so.”

真正稱得上英勇的人，是權衡利害之後，敢於說「雖然如此，我還是要勇往直前」的人。

Let’s settle for what we are. You look at your brother, look at your cousins, that’s what’s on the market. If you go by SBC drama, you’re in trouble. You will spend the rest of your life looking for a dream husband, who isn’t there, and for a girl who does not exist except with very careful make-up.

我們對配偶長相的要求應該實際。你只要看一看自己的兄弟，自己的表親，一般人的長相也不外如是。如果你以新廣電視劇的演員為標準，你就麻煩了，一輩子都在尋找十全十美的丈夫，而這位標準丈夫是不存在的；或是尋找絕色美女，而這夢想中的伴侶除了靠化妝打扮，根本就不存在。

The human being is an unequal creature…Never will be [equal].

每個人的天資不一……人類不平等是改變不了的事實。

He who loses his patience, loses his temper, loses the argument, and loses the case.

克制不了情緒的人容易發大脾氣，使自己顯得理虧，最後有理也變成無理。

If they could have just squeezed us like an orange, I think the juice would have been squeezed out of us. But it was more like the durian. You try and squeeze it, your hand gets hurt. And so they say, “Right, throw away the durian.” But inside the durian is a very useful ingredient, high protein… and we will progress.

假如我們脆弱如一個橙，他們的確可輕易將我們榨乾。可是我們更像榴槤，企圖施壓的人會弄傷雙手，他們可能會說：「好吧，我把榴槤丟掉。」然而，榴槤裏頭含有營養豐富的蛋白質……而我們將繼續進步。

In my short life, I have sung four national anthems… God Save the King… the Kimigayo… back again to God Save the Queen… Negara Ku… then we sing Majulah Singapura. Are you sure that this is the only anthem you will sing?

在我短短的一生，我先後唱了四首國歌……「天佑國王」……「君之代」……「天佑女王」……馬來西亞國歌……然後才唱「前進吧！新加坡」。你能肯定你一輩子只唱這首國歌嗎？