Education Quote by Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Tharman’s line is a piece of crisis-era statecraft: calm the room without lying about the weather. “We have to learn to live with this” is not resignation so much as a reset of expectations. It nudges citizens and markets away from the fantasy that politics can restore a stable, pre-shock normal. The phrasing is deliberately collective - “we” - spreading ownership of adaptation while quietly signalling that no leader, however competent, can simply “fix” volatility on a timetable.

The second sentence sharpens the realism. “Uncertainties” stays plural and abstract, a useful choice for a head of state: it can cover inflation, geopolitics, supply chains, climate risk, technological disruption, all without picking a partisan target or promising a single silver-bullet solution. “Resolved or eliminated” also matters; it concedes that some risks aren’t problems to be solved but conditions to be managed. That’s a mature message in a media environment trained to demand certainty on demand.

Then comes the rhetorical pivot: “But uncertainty does not mean a lack of opportunity”. It’s an inoculation against fatalism and a subtle brief for policy and personal strategy alike. For governments, it implies building resilience, investing in skills, diversifying economic bets. For individuals and firms, it reframes unpredictability as a space where preparedness, flexibility, and smart risk-taking can pay off. The subtext is Singaporean pragmatism with global relevance: stability is an asset, but in a churned-up world, agility becomes the growth model.