"I was a product of the times, the war, the occupation, the reoccupation, my 4 years in Britain, admiring but at the same time questioning whether they are able to do a better job than we can"
About this Quote
The Britain line is the pivot. “Admiring” signals the pragmatic respect of a colonial subject who saw real administrative capacity up close. But the admiration is immediately hedged by “questioning,” and that question is the seed of postcolonial sovereignty: not anti-British resentment, but a cold test of performance. Can they actually run things better, or do they just sound like they can? It’s a withering insinuation aimed at the colonial mystique - the idea that authority equals competence.
Subtextually, he’s narrating the origin story of Singapore’s founding ethos: borrow the best methods, refuse the posture. Four years in Britain becomes a laboratory experience, not a conversion. The phrase “a better job than we can” is nation-building rhetoric stripped of sentimentality, anchoring pride in measurable outcomes rather than identity. It anticipates his governing style: managerial, unsentimental, impatient with inherited prestige. The context is mid-century decolonization, when new states had to prove they were more than flags and anthems. Lee’s line stakes out a harsher standard: independence is justified only if it outperforms the empire.
Quote Details
| Topic | Leadership |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Yew, Lee Kuan. (n.d.). I was a product of the times, the war, the occupation, the reoccupation, my 4 years in Britain, admiring but at the same time questioning whether they are able to do a better job than we can. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-was-a-product-of-the-times-the-war-the-161485/
Chicago Style
Yew, Lee Kuan. "I was a product of the times, the war, the occupation, the reoccupation, my 4 years in Britain, admiring but at the same time questioning whether they are able to do a better job than we can." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-was-a-product-of-the-times-the-war-the-161485/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I was a product of the times, the war, the occupation, the reoccupation, my 4 years in Britain, admiring but at the same time questioning whether they are able to do a better job than we can." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-was-a-product-of-the-times-the-war-the-161485/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
