Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowellis an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth30 June 1930
CityGastonia, NC
CountryUnited States of America
Thomas Sowell quotes about
government littles assumption
Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and just improve the things that are not so good. What is lacking in this conception is any sense that a society, an institution, or even a single human being, is an intricate system of fragile inter-relationships, whose complexities are little understood and easily destabilized.
track worry political
Our economic problems worry me much less than our political solutions, which have a far worse track record.
past hands age
For the anointed, traditions are likely to be seen as the dead hand of the past, relics of a less enlightened age, and not as the distilled experience of millions who faced similar human vicissitudes before.
decision liberty outcomes
Why the transfer of decisions from those with personal experience and a stake in the outcome to those with neither can be expected to lead to better decisions is a question seldom asked, much less answered.
real gun mass-shootings
The real problem, both in discussions of mass shootings and in discussions of gun control, is that too many people are too committed to a vision to allow mere facts to interfere with their beliefs, and the sense of superiority that those beliefs give them.
constitution protect
The Constitution cannot protect us unless we protect the Constitution.
economics concerned
Economics is concerned with what emerges, not what anyone intended.
thinking government law
It is amazing how many people seem to think that the government exists to turn their prejudices into law.
business requirements produce
Balanced budget requirements seem more likely to produce accounting ingenuity than genuinely balanced budgets.
heart mean hands
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.
procrastination productive-work productive-life
The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings.
money answers way
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.
government people decision
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. Only in government is any benefit, however small, considered to be worth any cost, however large.
winning civilization battle
If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.