Words from LKY

"I'm not sure whether there's a God or there's no God, I'm not sure whether the world was created by God or by an accident. But don't go around knocking other people's gods and other people's culture Even if there is no God, this group of people have been held together and sustained through all their tragedies and all their sorrows by a belief, by a certain belief that they are all together under one God... therefore they share certain things in common. Why should you go and demolish that? I disagreed with that profoundly."
Interview with LKY

"You've then got to access him for his sense of reality, his imagination, his quality of leadership, his dynamism. But most of all, his character and his motivation, because the smarter a man is, the more harm he will do society."
LKY's Speech in Parliament on the White Paper on ministerial salaries, Nov 1, 1994

"When you have a button, there must be a purpose."
LKY's Speech at the Victoria Theatre on Sep 20, 1965
/* What happens when Lee presses a button and nothing happens? */

"..look at Apollo 13. The Americans had to choose astronauts. The three astronauts had only one chance: listen losely to ground control, preserve power, take one swing around the moon and come back. If they had missed it, they would have gone on forever and ever into outer space. If any one of the three had panicked, all three would have gone.
"The Americans must have found some way of testing men in pressure chambers, claustrophobic conditions, simulated real crisis conditions to cause fright, and eliminated those who panicked. Because not one of the three panicked, Apollo 13 came back."
National Day Rally speech, Aug 9, 1979

"It is amazing the number of highly intelligent persons in the world who make no contribution at all to the well-being of their fellowmen."
Speech at a conference on youth and leadership, Apr 10, 1967

"That which is written without much effort is seldom read with much pleasure."
Extract of what Lee told civil servants in Feb 1979

"And nobody ever remains in power for long unless he's good at seeing through people and judging them. You must be able to know the real man regardless of what his words are telling you. Assess him. Can this chap do it? Is he just flannelling away or does he know his stuff?"
Interview with LKY