107+ Thomas Sowell Quotes [American Economist]

Thomas Sowell Quotes

Here are some Thomas Sowell quotes covering a variety of topics:

1. “The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.”
2. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”
3. “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it.”
4. “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.”
5. “The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites.”
6. “Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.”
7. “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”
8. “The real minimum wage is zero.”
9. “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.”
10. “The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work.”
11. “Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important.”
12. Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.
13. “Inflation is a quiet but effective form of taxation.”
14. “People who pride themselves on their ‘complexity’ and deride others for being ‘simplistic’ should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.”
15. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
16. “Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.”
17. “Racism does not have a good track record. It’s been tried out for a long time and you’d think by now we’d want to put an end to it instead of putting it under new management.”
18. “It is amazing how many people think that the government’s role is to give them what they want by overriding what other people want.”
19. “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”
20. “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it.”
21. “You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.”
22. “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”
23. “The black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life.”
24. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
25. “The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.”
26. “The problem is that the government has the authority to make decisions about your life whether you are competent or not.”
27. “There are no solutions; there are only trade-offs.”
28. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
29. “What ‘multiculturalism’ boils down to is that you can praise any culture in the world except Western culture—and you cannot blame any culture in the world except Western culture.”
30. “The more I study the history of intellectuals, the more they seem like a wrecking crew, dismantling civilization bit by bit—replacing what works with what sounds good.”
31. “Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
32. “Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.”
33. “The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites.”
34. “A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual.”
35. “The word ‘racism’ is like ketchup. It can be put on practically anything—and demanding evidence makes you a ‘racist.'”
36. “The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work.”
37. “It is not poverty but unlimited hope which can breed discontent.”
38. “People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”
39. Weighing benefits against costs is the way most people make decisions— and the way most businesses make decisions if they want to stay in business.
40. “The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites.”
41. “One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today has been tried before and proved disastrous before, time and again.”
42. “Racism does not have a good track record. It’s been tried out for a long time and you’d think by now we’d want to put an end to it instead of putting it under new management.”
43. “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”
44. “The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask them how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.”
45. “If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.”
46. “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it.”
47. “The more people who are dependent on government handouts, the more votes the left can depend on for an ever-expanding welfare state.”
48. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
49. “In the era of the internet and 500 TV channels, people can choose whatever news source they want. Yet they often choose ones that echo their own views.”
50. “The black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life.”
51. “If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago, and a racist today.”
52. “The assumption that spending more of the taxpayer’s money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse.”
53. “The biggest and most deadly ‘tax’ rate on the poor comes from a loss of various welfare state benefits—especially Medicaid, housing subsidies and food stamps— if their income goes up.”
54. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
55. “The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work.”
56. “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”
57. “It is amazing how many people think that the government’s role is to give them what they want by overriding what other people want.”
58. “Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.”
59. “The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.”
60. “It’s amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.”

Inspirational Thomas Sowell Quotes

Inspirational Thomas Sowell Quotes:

1. “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
2. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
3. “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”
4. “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.”
5. “The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.”
6. “People who pride themselves on their ‘complexity’ and deride others for being ‘simplistic’ should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.”
7. “The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or men and women, but between talkers and doers.”
8. “Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
9. “It is amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them.”
10. “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”

Short Thomas Sowell Quotes

Short Thomas Sowell Quotes:

1. “The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.”
2. “People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.”
3. “Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.”
4. “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.”
5. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”
6. “The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.”
7. “The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”
8. “Intellect is not wisdom.”
9. “Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
10. “The real minimum wage is zero.”

Funny Thomas Sowell Quotes

Funny Thomas Sowell Quotes:

1. “Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.”
2. “In the modern welfare state, a vote becomes a license to take what others create, and these others include generations yet unborn.”
3. “The first lesson of economics is scarcity, but the first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
4. “It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.”
5. “I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.”
6. “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”
7. “There are few modest talents so richly rewarded — especially in politics and the media — as the ability to portray parasites as victims, and portray demands for preferential treatment as struggles for equal rights.”
8. “The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.”
9. “In the long run, the greatest weapon of mass destruction is stupidity.”
10. “The word ‘racism’ is like ketchup. It can be put on practically anything — and demanding evidence makes you a ‘racist.'”

Famous Thomas Sowell Quotes

Famous Thomas Sowell Quotes:

1. “It is amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them.”
2. “Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.”
3. “The first lesson of economics is scarcity, but the first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.”
4. “The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.”
5. “People who pride themselves on their ‘complexity’ and deride others for being ‘simplistic’ should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.”
6. “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”
7. “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.”
8. “Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
9. “The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit.”
10. “The word ‘racism’ is like ketchup. It can be put on practically anything — and demanding evidence makes you a ‘racist.'”

Deep Thomas Sowell Quotes

Deep Thomas Sowell Quotes:

1. “The most basic question is not what is best but who shall decide what is best.”
2. “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.”
3. “There are no solutions, only trade-offs.”
4. “Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
5. “The problem isn’t that Johnny can’t read. The problem isn’t even that Johnny can’t think. The problem is that Johnny doesn’t know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling.”
6. “In the long run, the greatest weapon of mass destruction is stupidity.”
7. “The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or men and women, but between talkers and doers.”
8. “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.”
9. “Intellect is not wisdom.”
10. “The real minimum wage is zero.”

Conclusion

Thomas Sowell’s quotes exemplify his intellectual rigor, logical thinking, and commitment to individual freedom.

His clarity of thought and ability to distill complex ideas into concise statements make his quotes accessible to a wide audience.

Sowell’s skepticism towards government intervention, emphasis on personal responsibility, and reliance on empirical evidence reflect his unique perspective on economics, politics, and social issues.

His quotes challenge prevailing narratives, encourage critical thinking, and highlight the unintended consequences of well-intentioned policies.

Whether discussing economics, race, culture, or individual liberty, Thomas Sowell’s quotes provide valuable insights and stimulate meaningful debate.

His quotes serve as a reminder to question assumptions, examine different perspectives, and strive for intellectual honesty in our understanding of the world.

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