Lee Kuan Yew

"If Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one."

"A nation is great not by its size alone. It is the will, the cohesion, the stamina, the discipline of its people, and the quality of their leaders which ensure it an honorable place in history."

"We have to lock up people, without trial, whether they are communists, whether they are language chauvinists, whether they are religious extremists. If you don't do that, the country would be in ruins."

"The task of the leaders must be to provide or create for them a strong framework within which they can learn, work hard, be productive and be rewarded accordingly."

"I ignore polling as a method of government. I think that shows a certain weakness of character."

"Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I'm meaningless."

"I'm not interested in being politically correct. I'm interested in being correct."

"Life is not just eating, drinking, television, and cinema. The human mind must be occupied with higher things."

"Even from my sickbed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up."

"We are pragmatists. We don't stick to any ideology. Does it work? Let's try it, and if it does work, fine, let's continue it. If it doesn't work, toss it out, try another one."

"You take a poll of any people. What do they want? The right to write an editorial as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools."

"What I fear is complacency. When things always become better, people tend to want more for less work."