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Thomas Sowell Quotes - Page 21

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The government is indeed an institution, but the market is nothing more than an option for each individual to chose among numerous existing institutions, or to fashion new arrangements suited to his own situation and

The government is indeed an institution, but "the market" is nothing more than an option for each individual to chose among numerous existing institutions, or to fashion new arrangements suited to his own situation and taste.

Fashion, Government, Taste

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.41, Basic Books

We know - or should know - what lies at the end of the road of racial polarization. A 'race card' is not something to play, because race is a very dangerous political plaything.

Lying, Race, Play

The most basic inherent constraint is that neither time nor wisdom are free goods available in unlimited quantity. This means that in social processes, as in economic processes, it is not only impossible to attain perfection but irrational to seek perfection- or even to seek the best possible result in each separate instance.

Mean, Perfection, Impossible

The desire of businessmen for profits is what drives prices down unless forcibly prevented from engaging in price competition, usually by governmental activity.

Competition, Desire, Liberty

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.225, Basic Books

Anyone who does not understand the utter cynicism of politics does not understand politics.

Political, Doe, Cynicism

Military pay has been allowed to lag behind to the point where career enlisted men with families to feed have been forced to resort to food stamps.

Military, Men, Careers

Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.

Real, Exercise, Numbers

"Is Reality Optional?". Book by Thomas Sowell, 1993.

In its pursuit of justice for a segment of society, in disregard of the consequences for society as a whole, what is called 'social justice' might more accurately be called anti-social justice, since what consistently gets ignored or dismissed are precisely the costs to society. Such a conception of justice seeks to correct, not only biased or discriminatory acts by individuals or by social institutions, but unmerited disadvantages in general, from whatever source they may arise.

Justice, Cost, May

Thomas Sowell (2001). “The Quest for Cosmic Justice”, p.10, Simon and Schuster

Everyone should be concerned about Internet anarchy in which anybody can pretend to be anybody else, unless something is done to stop it. If hoaxes like this go unchecked, who can believe anything they see on the Internet? What good would the Internet be then? If the people who control Internet web sites do not do anything, is that not an open invitation for government to step in? And does anybody want politicians to control what can go on the Internet?

Believe, Government, People

Whatever we wish to achieve in the future, it must begin by knowing where we are in the present - not where we wish we were, or where we wish others to think we are, but where we are in fact.

Thinking, Knowing, Wish

Charles Murray, however, clearly believes that being able to cure fatal diseases is more important than some other things and that Rembrandt was a greater artist than your local sidewalk cartoon sketcher. Most people might regard this as obvious common sense but some of the intelligentsia may be seething with resentment at seeing their pet fetishes ignored.

Believe, Artist, People

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.202, Hoover Press

It is not the dignitaries who are the real cause of hope, however. What is an enormously refreshing and hopeful sign is to see the young people who make up the membership of the Federalist Society. Earnest, intelligent, and unpretentious, these are the young men and women of whom any nation and any age could be proud.

Real, Men, Intelligent

Balanced budget requirements seem more likely to produce accounting ingenuity than genuinely balanced budgets.

Business, Requirements, Produce

Interview with John Hawkins, rightwingnews.com. February 8, 2012.

Government restrictions are attractive to people who want to impose their pet notions without having to count the costs.

Government, People, Pet

The whole notion that you can equalize opportunity in things that matter is utopian.

Opportunity, Matter, Notion

All of us should be on guard against beliefs that flatter ourselves. At the very least, we should check such beliefs against facts.

Facts, Belief, Checks

"Depending on Dependency" by Thomas Sowell, www.realclearpolitics.com. September 11, 2012.

The government does not have some magic wand that can 'bring down the cost of health care.' It can buy a smaller quantity or lower quality of medical care, as other countries with government-run medical care do.

Running, Country, Government

We cannot allow the defense of American lives to be held hostage by the United Nations -- which has already given Saddam Hussein a final warning, and now wants to give him another final warning. And, if he doesn't heed that, they will threaten him with yet another warning.

War, Giving, Finals

In the United States, liberals have made it virtually impossible [to increase the supply of oil] by banning drilling in all sorts of places and preventing any new refinery from being built anywhere in the country in the last 30 years.

Country, Years, Oil

Prices impose the most effective kind of rationing - self-rationing. Why is rationing necessary? Because what everybody wants always adds up to more than there is. . .Resources are limited but desires are not. That is the basic and defining problem of economics.

Self, Desire, Add

American society in recent years has been imitating behavior patterns that have produced negative - and sometimes catastrophic - consequences in many other countries around the world.

Country, Years, Negative

The grand delusion of contemporary liberals is that they have both the right and the ability to move their fellow creatures around like blocks of wood - and that the end results will be no different than if people had voluntarily chosen the same action

Block, Moving, People

Civilization is an enormous device for economizing knowledge,.

Civilization, Enormous, Devices

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

The same set of statistics can produce opposite conclusions at different levels of aggregation.

Science, Opposites, Different

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

People who know nothing about advertising, nothing about pharmaceuticals, and nothing about economics have been loudly proclaiming that the drug companies spend too much on advertising - and demanding that the government pass laws based on their ignorance.

Ignorance, Government, Law

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.204, Hoover Press

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