Thinker · 4 quotes

Lee Kuan Yew quotes for UPSC

4 sourced quotes by Lee Kuan Yew on democracy & freedom, nation, unity & diversity, power & corruption, history & civilisation, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.

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If we say that we believe in democracy, if we say that the fabric of a democratic society is one which allows for the free play of idea...then, in the name of all the gods, give that free play a chance to work within the constitutional framework.

— Lee Kuan YewOpposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Legislative Assembly (4 October 1956)

Use itGS2: free play of ideas within constitutional framework.

India is a nation of unfulfilled greatness. Its potential has lain fallow, under used.

— Lee Kuan YewLee Kuan Yew in the second volume of his memoirs, published in 2000, quoted at

Use itEssay on India's potential: unfulfilled greatness awaiting reform.

Nation, Unity & Diversity Economy, Development & PovertyEssayGS3

Repression can only go up to a point. When it becomes too acute, the instruments of repression, namely the army and the police, have been proved time and time again in history to have turned their guns on their masters.

— Lee Kuan YewOpposition leader Lee Kuan Yew Straits Times (5 May 1959)

Use itEssay on authoritarianism: repression has limits; it eventually backfires.

Power & Corruption Democracy & FreedomEssayGS2

The ending of colonialism does not in itself result in social and economic progress: it provides the opportunities for it.

— Lee Kuan YewSpeech to the non-aligned summit in Lusaka (1970), quoted in "The man who worked an economic miracle", The Times (20 December 1984), p. 8

Use itGS1: decolonisation brings opportunity, not automatic progress; post-independence nation-building.

History & Civilisation Economy, Development & PovertyGS1GS2