It is amazing how many of those who consider themselves “thinking people” respond automatically to words the way Pavlov’s dog was conditioned to respond to certain sounds
—Thomas Sowell
We always hear about the haves and the have-nots. Why don’t we hear about the doers and the do-nots.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Fame
Each day, as I take various pills, I realize that without those pills I might not be alive—and, if I were, life would not be worth living. Yet those who produce these medications are under constant attack from people who produce nothing.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Medicine
Someone once said that a fool can put on his coat better than a wise man can put it on for him. The implications of that undermine most of the agenda of the political left.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Liberalism
What is more frightening than any particular policy or ideology is the widespread habit of disregarding facts
—Thomas Sowell
Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Socialism
Young people in general – and young women in particular – need to understand that they cannot retrieve in their forties the opportunities they threw away in their twenties.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Age
Social values in general are incrementally variable: neither safety, diversity, rational articulation, nor morality is categorically a good thing to have more of, without limits. All are subject to diminishing returns, and ultimately negative returns.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Socialism
Liberals seem to assume that, if you don’t believe in their particular political solutions, then you don’t really care about the people that they claim to want to help
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Liberalism
The simplest and most psychologically satisfying explanation of any observed phenomenon is that it happened that way because someone wanted it to happen that way.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Explanation
Sports are the reason I am out of shape. I watch them all on TV.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: One liners, Sports
Egalitarians create the most dangerous inequality of all—inequality of power. Allowing politicians to determine what all other human beings will be allowed to earn is one of the most reckless gambles imaginable. Like the income tax, it may start off being applied only to the rich but it will inevitably reach us all
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Government, Anger
Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back.
—Thomas Sowell
Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation?
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Weather
All that makes earlier times seem simpler is our ignorance of their complexities.
—Thomas Sowell
The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Welfare
Capitalism knows only one color: that color is green; all else is necessarily subservient to it, hence, race, gender and ethnicity cannot be considered within it
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Capitalism
Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Liberalism
Mistakes can be corrected by those who pay attention to facts but dogmatism will not be corrected by those who are wedded to a vision.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Attention
If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Battle
There are only two ways of telling the complete truth – anonymously and posthumously.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Honesty
You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats, procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.
—Thomas Sowell
There is no talent so ardently supported, nor generously rewarded,
as the ability to convince parasites they are victims.
—Thomas Sowell
‘Fairness’ is one of the great mantras of the left. Since everyone has his own definition of fairness, that word is a blank check for the expansion of government power. What fairness means in practice is that third parties—busybodies—can prevent mutual accommodations by others.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Equality
Mystical references to society and its programs to help may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Welfare
One of the sad signs of our times is that we have diminished those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Welfare
Any attempt at a rational discussion of the economic realities of government-controlled medical care is almost certain to run up against the trump card of the political left: The Poor.
The image that is often invoked is that of the elderly poor, forced to choose between food and medical treatment. Who could be so heartless as to abandon them to the vagaries of the free market?
This has proved to be a very effective political strategy for extending government power, not only over medical care but also over housing and other sectors of the economy.The phoniness of this argument becomes apparent the moment you suggest that money be set aside specifically for dealing with the special problems of the poor, rather than bringing whole sectors of the economy under the dominance of politicians, bureaucrats and judges.
The amount of money needed to take care of the poor is often some minute fraction of what sweeping new government programs cost. But, while big government liberals are willing to use the poor as human shields in their political battles, their more basic strategy is to proclaim that everyone has a right to some basic need that they want the government to provide.
As a matter of practical politics, programs for the poor alone do not have as large a constituency as programs to give everybody some benefit, so that we can all have the illusion of getting something for nothing
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Liberalism
Too much of what is called “education” is little more than an expensive isolation from reality
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Isolation
The real minimum wage is zero unemployment.
—Thomas Sowell
Topics: Work
Any politician who starts shouting election-year demagoguery about the rich and the poor should be asked, “What about the other 90 percent of the people?”
—Thomas Sowell
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Milton Friedman American Economist
- John Rawls American Philosopher
- Cynthia Ozick American Novelist, Essayist
- Tim Robbins American Actor, Director
- Robert Reich American Economist, Political Commentator
- Shelby Foote American Novelist, Historian
- Maria Mitchell American Astronomer
- Henry George American Economist
- Alexander Hamilton American Statesman
- James Madison American Statesman, President
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