Amartya Sen Quotes

Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one's full potential as a human being

Economic growth without investment in human development is unsustainable - and unethical.

Human development, as an approach, is concerned with what I take to be the basic development idea: namely, advancing the richness of human life, rather than the richness of the economy in which human beings live, which is only a part of it.

I believe that virtually all the problems in the world come from inequality of one kind or another.

Poverty is the deprivation of opportunity.

Education makes us the human beings we are. It has major impacts on economic development, on social equity, gender equity. In all kinds of ways, our lives are transformed by education and security. Even if it had not one iota of effect [on] security, it would still remain in my judgment the biggest priority in the world.

The success of a society is to be evaluated primarily by the freedoms that members of the society enjoy.

Education can really transform the insecurities in the world into a bigger vision of what we are as human beings.

Empowering women is key to building a future we want

Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat.

Imparting education not only enlightens the receiver, but also broadens the giver - the teachers, the parents, the friends.

Gender inequality is not one problem, it's a collection of problems.

We need to ask the moral questions: Do I have a right to be rich? And do I have a right to be content living in a world with so much poverty and inequality? These questions motivate us to view the issue of inequality as central to human living.

Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principal means.

No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.

Education makes human beings more articulate. It transforms people. You can think differently about the world. It makes it possible for you to get jobs. It makes a dramatic difference. It generates a social equity that we need.

Globalization can be very unjust and unfair and unequal, but these are matters under our control. It’s not that we don’t need the market economy. We need it. But the market economy should not have priority or dominance over other institutions.

Progress is more plausibly judged by the reduction of deprivation than by the further enrichment of the opulent

I think education has a bigger impact on the lives of people than absolutely anything else.

Development cannot really be so centered only on those in power.

Any classification according to a singular identity polarizes people in a particular way, but if we take note of the fact that we have many different identities - related not just to religion but also to language, occupation and business, politics, class and poverty, and many others - we can see that the polarization of one can be resisted by a fuller picture. So knowledge and understanding are extremely important to fight against singular polarization.

Human ordeals thrive on ignorance. To understand a problem with clarity is already half way towards solving it.

Economics, as it has emerged, can be made more productive by paying greater and more explicit attention to the ethical considerations that shape human behaviour and judgment.

No substantial famine has ever occurred in a democratic country - no matter how poor.

The lack of economic freedom could be a very major reason for loss of liberty, liberty of life.