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Thomas Sowell Quotes - Page 20

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Someone once defined a social problem as a situation in which the real world differs from the theories of intellectuals. To the intelligentsia, it follows, as the night follows the day, that it is the real world that is

Someone once defined a social problem as a situation in which the real world differs from the theories of intellectuals. To the intelligentsia, it follows, as the night follows the day, that it is the real world that is wrong and which needs to change.

Real, Night, Needs

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.213, Hoover Press

What then is the intellectual advantage of civilization over primitive savagery? It is not necessarily that each civilized man has more knowledge but that he requires far less.

Men, Civilization, Intellectual

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.7, Basic Books

You need to be empathetic in your own personal life and we help our neighbors and our friends out who are struggling in our neighborhoods. But we don't make bad decisions based on empathy.

Struggle, Empathy, Decision

Source: www.foxnews.com

Clearly, only very unequal intellectual and moral standing could justify having equality imposed, whether the people want it or not, as Dworkin suggests, and only very unequal power would make it possible.

People, Intellectual, Want

Thomas Sowell (2007). “A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles”, p.55, Basic Books

What all these lofty and vague phrases boil down to is that the court can impose things that the voters don't want and the Constitution does not require, but which are in vogue in circles to which the court responds.

Circles, Doe, Phrases

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.296, Basic Books

Benedict Arnold was a war hero, wounded in battle--before he turned against his country. Hitler was likewise a decorated and wounded veteran of the First World War. Being a war hero is not a lifetime...exempt[ion]...from responsibility for what you do thereafter.

Country, War, Hero

No individual and no generation has had enough personal experience to ignore the vast experience of the human race that is called history. Yet most of our schools and colleges today pay little attention to history. And many of our current policies repeat mistakes that were made, time and again, in the past with disastrous results.

Mistake, School, Past

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Controversial Essays”, p.308, Hoover Press

Any statistics can be extrapolated to the point where they show disaster.

Science, Statistics, Disaster

Thomas Sowell (1995). “The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy”, p.102, Basic Books

If one writing contributed more than any other to the framework in which this work Sowell's Knowledge and Decisions developed, it would be an essay entitled 'The Use of Knowledge in Society,' published in the American Economic Review of September 1945, and written by F. A. Hayek . . In this plain and apparently simple essay was a deeply penetrating insight into the way societies function and malfunction, and clues as to why they are so often and so profoundly misunderstood.

Writing, Simple, Decision

"Knowledge and Decisions". Book by Thomas Sowell, 1980.

Central planning, judicial activism, and the nanny state all presume vastly more knowledge than any elite have ever possessed.

Nannies, Planning, States

Any judicial nominee who has said that the Constitution means what it says, not what judges would like it to mean, is going to be called an 'extremist.' That person will be said to be 'out of the mainstream.' But the mainstream is itself the problem.

Mean, Judging, Constitution

Sellers in general maintain the quality of their products and services for fear of losing customers otherwise. But, when price controls create a situation where the amount demanded is greater than the amount supplied - a shortage - fear of losing customers is no longer as strong an incentive. For example, landlords typically reduce painting and repairs when there is rent control, because there is no need to fear vacancies when there are more tenants looking for apartments than there are apartments available.

Strong, Quality, Example

The law of diminishing returns means that even the most beneficial prinicple will become harmful if carried far enough.

Mean, Science, Law

Thomas Sowell (1995). “The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy”, p.102, Basic Books

Organizational progress parallels that in science and technology, permitting ultimate simplicity through intermediate complexity.

Technology, Simplicity, Progress

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.11, Basic Books

What is politically defined as economic planning is the forcible superseding of other people's plans by Government officials.

Government, People, Planning

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.213, Basic Books

The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutionsthat get rid of the whole problem- at least in their imagination.

Imagination, Society, Problem

Thomas Sowell (1993). “Is Reality Optional?: And Other Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.

Mean, Technology, Opposites

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.10, Basic Books

One of the most ridiculous defenses of foreign aid is that it is a very small part of our national income. If the average American set fire to a five-dollar bill, it would be an even smaller percentage of his annual income. But everyone would consider him foolish for doing it.

Fire, Average, Dollar Bills

"Barbarians Inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays". Book by Thomas Sowell, 1999.

Perhaps the most widespread misunderstanding of economics is that it applies solely to financial transactions. Frequently this leads to statements that "there are noneconomic values" to consider. There are, of course, noneconomic values. Indeed, there are only noneconomic values. Economics is not a value itself but merely a method of trading off one value against another.

Financial, Economics, Method

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.79, Basic Books

Relevance is not something you can predict. It is something you discover after the fact.

Facts, Relevance

Thomas Sowell (2011). “The Thomas Sowell Reader”, p.354, Basic Books

Few professors would dare to publish research or teach a course debunking the claims made in various ethnic, gender, or other 'studies' courses.

Research, Study, Gender

The Obama administration seems to be following what might be called 'the Detroit pattern increasing taxes, harassing businesses, and pandering to unions. In the short run, it got mayors re-elected. In the long-run, it reduced Detroit from a thriving city to an economic disaster area, whose population was cut in half, as its most productive citizens fled.

Running, Cutting, Cities

Students are often in no position to judge 'relevance' until long after the fact.

Long, Judging, Facts

Thomas Sowell (2001). “A Personal Odyssey”, p.127, Simon and Schuster

With various people complaining about "price gouging?... economist Walter Williams has coined a new term: "Tax gouging." But government is never accused of either "greed" or "gouging" ? not even when they bulldoze people's homes in order to turn.

Home, Government, Order

One of the biggest reasons for higher medical costs is that somebody else is paying those costs, whether an insurance company or the government. What is the politicians' answer? To have more costs paid by insurance companies and the government. ... [H]aving someone else pay for medical care virtually guarantees that a lot more of it will be used. Nothing would lower costs more than having each patient pay those costs. And nothing is less likely to happen.

Guarantees That, Government, Care

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