Lee Kuan Yew

This article is about GritCult's view of Lee Kuan Yew. For a general overview, see Lee Kuan Yew on Wikipedia.

Lee Kuan Yew
““If you are not feared when you say something, people won’t take notice. But they know that when I say…” (26 January 2024)
In the archive
Portal	Builders & Operators
Posts	20
Retweets	2,129
Likes	18,915
First post	9 August 2019
Latest post	19 November 2025
Posts by year
20193
20213
20238
20242
20254
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Lee Kuan Yew is GritCult's model statesman: an independent thinker who built Singapore from nothing and made hard decisions without apology. The page has only 20 posts, but most date from 2023 onward and some were widely shared.

Views

The recommendation is unreserved and repeated. Every great man should study Lee Kuan Yew, “A great example in being a truly independent thinker of the higher order” ^[1], a post he made in 2023 and again in 2024. Asking followers in 2025 which biography everyone should read, he offered Lee's as his own answer ^[2]. The admiration rests on results: an exemplary statesman who made a lot of hard decisions, kept a sharp wit, and “literally made a city from nothing into one of the greatest places on earth” ^[3].

What he quotes most is Lee's hardness. “You must grow calluses on your heart or you will bleed to death”, a lesson he says most will never learn ^[4]; on authority, “If you are not feared when you say something, people won't take notice” ^[5]. A widely shared 2023 clip shows Lee defending the death penalty for drug dealers, arguing that a dealer's life should be taken to save the lives of hundreds of families, a position GritCult endorsed enthusiastically ^[6]. He is open that Lee “was also a dictator for life”, and cites him on infrastructure and institutions ^[7].

Lee also feeds GritCult's long-range concerns. He quotes him on demography, not democracy, as “the most critical factor for security and growth in the 21st century” ^[8], a line that sits beside his own recurring warnings about falling birth rates. In Lee he finds a builder whose results are measured in a country rather than a company, and whose methods he is willing to defend.

Recurring themes

• the independent thinker as nation builder
• hardness as a governing virtue
• being feared in order to be heard
• harsh penalties defended as protection
• demography over democracy

Notable post

The most retweeted GritCult post on the subject, with 1,637 retweets:

Selected posts

All 20 posts in the archive about Lee Kuan Yew, ranked by retweets. Select a column heading to sort.

Date	Retweets	Likes	Post	Media	Source
24 August 2025	1,637	15,426	fuck it, here is a Lee Kuan Yew edit.		View
9 February 2023	272	1,778	This is so fucking based... Lee Kuan Yew absolutely schools a beta liberal journo why the death penalty is a good thing. He says that the life of a drug dealer should be taken in order to save hundreds of lives of families... Founder of singapore		View
8 February 2023	133	635	I think every great man should study Lee Kuan Yew. A great example in being a truly independent thinker of the higher order. A legend and nation builder.		View
11 November 2025	42	731	I’m slowly becoming obsessed with biographies. Who is one persons biography everyone should read? Lee Kuan Yew is my recommendation.		View
26 January 2024	8	52	“If you are not feared when you say something, people won’t take notice. But they know that when I say something, I mean it.  If you’re gonna cross swords with me, then you must be willing to get stabbed. That’s that." Lee Kuan Yew		View
23 August 2023	5	54	Lee Kuan Yew once said "You must grow calluses on your heart or you will bleed to death." Lesson most in life will never learn.		View
31 July 2023	5	30	Lee kuan yew was an exemplar statesman, made alot of hard decisions, and always had a sharp wit, literally made a city from nothing into one of the greatest places on earth.		View
9 August 2019	5	28	I believe that life is a process of continuous change and a constant struggle to make that change one for the better. Kuan Yew Lee		View
30 June 2021	4	20	I BELIEVE THAT LIFE IS A PROCESS OF CONTINUOUS CHANGE AND A CONSTANT STRUGGLE TO MAKE THAT CHANGE ONE FOR THE BETTER. KUAN YEW LEE		View
9 August 2019	4	14	Demography, not democracy, will be the most critical factor for security and growth in the 21st century. Lee Kuan Yew		View
17 November 2023	3	18	Lee Kuan Yew on sacrifice.		View
9 August 2019	3	9	If you do not know history, you think short term. If you know history, you think medium and long term. Lee Kuan Yew		View
10 November 2023	2	50	Every country on earth ought to be obsessed with profits. - Lee Kuan Yew		View
11 June 2021	2	15	I BELIEVE THAT LIFE IS A PROCESS OF CONTINUOUS CHANGE AND A CONSTANT STRUGGLE TO MAKE THAT CHANGE ONE FOR THE BETTER. KUAN YEW LEE		View
12 January 2024	1	19	I think every great man should study Lee Kuan Yew. A great example in being a truly independent thinker of the higher order. A legend and nation builder.		View
12 November 2023	1	16	Lee Kuan Yew one of the greatest orators of all time, talking about the future of singapore		View
21 April 2023	1	8	el salvador just sentenced to death alot of rapist and drug dealers lee kuan yew talks about it alot in terms of nation building LKY was also a dictator for life and he focused on the very same principles i talk about in this thread infrastructure institutions…		View
25 April 2021	1	4	lee kuan yew also shares similar sentiment on changing geopolitics he also talks on the weakening of the dollar will lead to a decline of the power of america		View
19 November 2025	0	8	@CEOLandshark Welcome back. That is true. I couldn’t find the exact quote on selecting partners with high iq lky once said. Was probably in a video or interview I vaguely remember		View
22 March 2025	0	0	@randomovine @rundmc1556 @williammollers @gonequacker In this vein would align more with schumpeter, LKY and Henry George.		View

History

GritCult first posted about Lee Kuan Yew on 9 August 2019, and most recently on 19 November 2025. Across the archive the subject comes up 20 times, most often in 2023 (8 posts).

See also

Builders & Operators portal

References

1. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (8 February 2023). I think every great man should study Lee Kuan Yew. A great example in being a truly independent thinker of the higher order. A legend and nation builder. X.
2. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (11 November 2025). Who is one persons biography everyone should read? Lee Kuan Yew is my recommendation. X.
3. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (31 July 2023). Lee kuan yew was an exemplar statesman, made alot of hard decisions, and always had a sharp wit, literally made a city from nothing into one of the greatest places on earth. X.
4. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (23 August 2023). You must grow calluses on your heart or you will bleed to death...Lesson most in life will never learn. X.
5. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (26 January 2024). If you are not feared when you say something, people won’t take notice. X.
6. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (9 February 2023). He says that the life of a drug dealer should be taken in order to save hundreds of lives of families. X.
7. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (21 April 2023). was also a dictator for life and he focused on the very same principles i talk about in this thread. X.
8. ^GRITCULT [@GRITCULT] (9 August 2019). Demography, not democracy, will be the most critical factor for security and growth in the 21st century. X.

External links

• Posts about Lee Kuan Yew by GRITCULT on X
• Lee Kuan Yew on Wikipedia