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Thomas Sowell Quotes - Page 23

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Force is the antithesis of freedom, but force must be used, if only to defend against other force.

Force is the antithesis of freedom, but force must be used, if only to defend against other force.

Black, Used, Force

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.116, Basic Books

While rationalism at the individual level is a plea for more personal autonomy from cultural norms, at the social level it is often a claim- or arrogation- of power to stifle the autonomy of others.

Black, Levels, Individual

Any policy is a success by sufficiently low standards and a failure by sufficiently high standards.

Success, Failure, Science

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

Ideas, as the raw material from which knowledge is produced, exist in superabundance, but that makes the production of knowledge more difficult rather than easier. Many ideas- probably most- will have to be discarded somewhere in the process of producing authenticated knowledge. Authentication is as important as the raw information itself, and the manner and speed of the authentication process can be crucial.

Ideas, Important, Raw Materials

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.4, Basic Books

In the string of amazing decisions made during the first year of the Obama administration, nothing seems more like sheer insanity than the decision to try foreign terrorists, who have committed acts of war against the United States, in federal court, as if they were American citizens accused of crimes.

War, Years, Decision

Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.24, ReadHowYouWant.com

Hyperinflation can take virtually your entire life's savings, without the government having to bother raising the official tax rate at all.

Government, Saving, Hyperinflation

If you don't believe in the innate unreasonableness of human beings, just try raising children.

Children, Believe, Trying

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Controversial Essays”, p.323, Hoover Press

Securities based on risky mortgages are what toppled financial institutions but it was the government that made the mortgages risky in the first place, by making home-ownership statistics the holy grail, for which everything else was to be sacrificed, including commonsense standards for making home loans.

Home, Government, Holy Grail

Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.44, ReadHowYouWant.com

Republicans won big, running as Republicans, in 2004. But once they took control of Congress, they started acting like Democrats and lost big. There is a lesson in that somewhere but whether Republicans will learn it is another story entirely.

Running, Acting, Stories

"Random Thoughts" by Thomas Sowell, townhall.com. August 26, 2008.

One of the most basic and pervasive social processes is the sorting and labeling of things, activities, and people... Sorting and labeling processes involve a trade-off of costs and benefits. In general, the more finely the sorting is done, the greater the benefits - and the costs... Sorting and labeling, whether of people or of things, is a sorting and labeling of probabilities rather than of certainties.

People, Cost, Done

Just as a poetic discussion of the weather is not meteorology, so an issuance of moral pronouncements or political creeds about the economy is not economics. Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy.

Weather, Political, Meteorology

Thomas Sowell (2011). “Basic Economics”, p.103, ReadHowYouWant.com

Both history and contemporary data show that countries prosper more when there are stable and dependable rules, under which people can make investments without having to fear unpredictable new government interventions before these investments can pay off.

Country, Government, Data

"An Economic 'Plan'?". www.creators.com. September 09, 2012.

Anyone who has actually had to take responsibility for consequences by running any kind of enterprise whether economic or academic, or even just managing a sports team is likely at some point to be chastened by either the setbacks brought on by his own mistakes or by seeing his successes followed by negative consequences that he never anticipated.

Sports, Running, Mistake

"Ego and Mouth". www.realclearpolitics.com. November 2, 2008.

A shortage is a sign that somebody is keeping the price artificially lower than it would be if supply and demand were allowed to operate freely.

Would Be, Demand, Shortage

Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.62, Hoover Press

Even if her children or grandchildren are willing to spend their own money to keep grandma alive, when bureaucrats control the necessary technology or medication they may decide that it is not for sale.

Children, Grandma, Technology

Many Americans who supported the initial thrust of civil rights, as represented by the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, later felt betrayed as the original concept of equal individual opportunity evolved toward the concept of equal group results.

Opportunity, Rights, Decision

Riskier mortgage lending practices, imposed by government, were what set the stage for many mortgage payments to stop and thus for the financial disasters that followed. Political rhetoric, echoed in the media, seeks to obscure that painfully plain fact.

Government, Media, Practice

When government takes away options, it is bound to make some people worse off, even with intrinsicallly good intentions behind that government intervention.

Government, People, Liberty

The great allure of government programs in general for many people is that these programs allow decisions to be made without having to worry about the constraints of prices, which confront people at every turn in a free market.

Government, People, Worry

Since man does not create physical matter, those who handle material objects in the production process are not producers in that sense. Economic benefits result from the transformation of matter in form, location, or availability (intellectually or temporally). It is these transformations that create economic benefits valued by consumers, and whoever arranges such transformations contributes to the value of things, whether his hands actually come into contact with physical objects or not.

Men, Hands, Availability

Many people, including some conservatives, have been very impressed with how brainy the president and his advisers are. But that is not quite as reassuring as it might seem.

People, President, Might

Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.98, ReadHowYouWant.com

Morality, like other inputs into the social process, follows the law of diminishing returns- meaning ultimately, negative returns. People can be too moral.

Law, People, Negative

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.108, Basic Books

The more adaptability exists for a given kind of decision, the less risky it is to make plans for the future, and therefore the more likely it is that more people will make more plans in such areas.

People, Decision, Kind

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.29, Basic Books

Informal relationships are not mere minor interstitial supplements to the major institutions of society. These informal relationships not only include important decision-making processes, such as the family, but also produce much of the background social capital without which the other major institutions of society could not function nearly as effectively as they do.

Decision, Important, Social

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.30, Basic Books

Social values in general are incrementally variable: neither safety, diversity, rational articulation, nor morality is categorically a good thing to have more of, without limits. All are subject to diminishing returns, and ultimately negative returns.

Social Values, Safety, Diversity

Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.110, Basic Books

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