Perth or Vancouver or Sydney, or an apartment in London, in case I need some place suddenly, and think about whether I go on to America." - Meaning and context.">
SM Lee Kuan Yew The Man & His Ideas (1997)

Supposing I'm now 21, 22, what would I do? I would not be absorbed in wanting to change life in Singapore. I'm not responsible for Singapore...Why should I go and undertake this job and spend my whole life pushing this for a lot of people for whom nothing is good enough? I will have a fall-back position, which many are doing - have a house in Perth or Vancouver or Sydney, or an apartment in London, in case I need some place suddenly, and think about whether I go on to America.

— Lee Kuan Yew

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Supposing I'm now 21, 22, what would I do? I would not be absorbed in wanting to change life in Singapore. I'm not responsible for Singapore...Why should I go and undertake this job and spend my whole life pushing this for a lot of people for whom nothing is good enough? I will have a fall-back position, which many are doing - have a house in Perth or Vancouver or Sydney, or an apartment in London, in case I need some place suddenly, and think about whether I go on to America." in the context of "SM Lee Kuan Yew The Man & His Ideas (1997)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Lee Kuan Yew" (Quotes, 1990s) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Lee Kuan Yew

About Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015) was a Singaporean politician. He was the Secretary-general of the People's Action Party (1954–1992) and Singapore Prime Minister (1959–1990), Senior Minister (1990–2004), Minister Mentor (2004–2011).