Quotes by Thomas Sowell

It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

— Thomas Sowell

Education

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.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

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.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

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.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

— Thomas Sowell

Happiness

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

Wisdom

The black family survived centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow, but it has disintegrated in the wake of the liberals' expansion of the welfare state.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.

— Thomas Sowell

Courage

In liberal logic, if life is unfair then the answer is to turn more tax money over to politicians, to spend in ways that will increase their chances of getting reelected.

— Thomas Sowell

Life

The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

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.

— Thomas Sowell

Success

The people made worse off by slavery were those who were enslaved. Their descendants would have been worse off today if born in Africa instead of America. Put differently, the terrible fate of their ancestors benefitted them.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

Do countries with strong gun control laws have lower murder rates? Only if you cherry-pick the data.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

The word 'racism' is like ketchup. It can be put on practically anything - and demanding evidence makes you a 'racist.'

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and doers.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

Wishful thinking is not idealism. It is self-indulgence at best and self-exaltation at worst. In either case, it is usually at the expense of others. In other words, it is the opposite of idealism.

— Thomas Sowell

Wisdom

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

Wisdom

As for gun control advocates, I have no hope whatever that any facts whatever will make the slightest dent in their thinking - or lack of thinking.

— Thomas Sowell

Hope

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

Wisdom