From his thoughts on multi-party politics and succession to anecdotes on his youth and marriage, a set of books containing the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's most memorable quotes has been released.

Titled LKY On Governance, Management, Life: A Collection Of Quotes From Lee Kuan Yew, the three-volume set is on sale at bookstores here, and will be available for loan at all public libraries from Monday. The set of quotable quotes - curated from Mr Lee's books, media interviews, speeches and public appearances - was launched yesterday by The Straits Times Press and sponsor OCBC Bank at the Library@Orchard.

"To make the books a public resource that is accessible to all, we will be donating 1,000 sets of the books to local public libraries and schools," OCBC Bank group chief executive Samuel Tsien said.

The set of books was simultaneously launched in OCBC's key overseas markets such as Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Hong Kong, where they will be distributed to universities and libraries and be available for loan.

Among those at yesterday's launch were OCBC chairman Ooi Sang Kuang, editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings' English/ Malay/Tamil Media Group Patrick Daniel, Straits Times editor Warren Fernandez, guests from the National Library Board and Education Ministry, and over 40 representatives from secondary schools, tertiary institutes and special schools.

Singapore Polytechnic student Joelle Chew, 19, said Mr Lee's death in March sparked curiosity among those in her generation about his life and legacy. She hopes to learn more by reading her copy of the books.

"I don't know much about him as he's not from our era, but I'm grateful to be living in a successful Singapore," she said. "Not many people have their own copies of these books, so I will share them once I've read them."

The books are on sale at major bookstores for $31.03 (with GST).