What has Hong Kong got? Property
developers and market players. Is Li Ka Shing making a product that is selling
worldwide? No, he’s just acquiring real estate, ports, retail stores and
telecom companies.――――Keeping
The Economic Miracle Alive
Human beings are created unequal,
and no amount of social engineering or government intervention can
significantly alter one’s lot in life. At most, government policies can help
equalise opportunity at the starting point, but they cannot ensure equal
outcomes. Society is bound to end up with unequal outcomes, where the more able
end up better off financially and socially than the less able.――――Tough Love
From the doctor’s observation
about the orthopaedic problems of a closed society whose members intermarried
one another, Lee drew two conclusions. One: that diversity enriches the genetic
pool. Two: that traits like intelligence――or bone structure――were
influenced greatly by genetic heritage.――――Tough Love
With the pressing problems of
creating jobs, building homes and schools, Lee learnt fast that talk about an
equal society and equitable income distribution rang hollow unless there was
income to distribute. He realised it was more important to create wealth first――and
worry later how to distribute it.――――Tough
Love
[T]he role of the state is to
facilitate workers’ intrinsic drives and motivations to compete and do well for
themselves and their kin. Those who cannot compete will get help to survive.
But the amount of social benefits on offer should never be so attractive that
people prefer not to work.――――Tough
Love
[A] lone jihadist can cross over
from Batam, with a bomb belt. We have to be careful. We cannot guarantee that
somebody will not slip through, go into the underground station and blow
himself up, or worse, go into the tunnel and blow himself up… [I]f it happens
and in a train with 1,000 passengers, we can’t just leave them there to be
incinerated. Even if you can rescue only a part of them, you have to try your
best.――――Regarding
Race, Language and Religion
[L]anguage usage in the world
will always evolve and shift… Latin was the language of Europe. Up to the 16th
century, many scholars, including Erasmus, wrote in Latin. The Church used
Latin. By the 18th century, they were switching into their own languages.
Gradually Latin disappeared. Latin is a dead language except for liturgies in
the Catholic Church. No one can say English will be dominant forever.――――Regarding Race,
Language and Religion