Quotessence
Home / Authors / Amartya Sen
Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen Quotes

Economist

Filter quotes by topic

AllWorldPeopleThinkingHumansIfsWayCountryKindEconomicPoverty

Famous Amartya Sen Quotes

“Every time you have an opportunity of opening a school, its fee and funding is really relatively small in comparison with the big expenditure, which is basically quote unquote defense. I think if there were fees, progress could be very much faster. But for that we need not only the government in different countries to understand it but the society to put pressure on it, the parents to understand that their desire to have their children educated can actually be realized, and it could make a dramatic difference.”

IfsThinkingNeedsChildrenDifferentCountryBigsGovernmentSchoolDesireOpportunityParentDifferencesProgressPressureDefenseOpeningEducatedFasterDramaticComparisonFundingFeesExpendituresDifferent Countries
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“In India, [in] the great documents like [the] Upanishads in eighth century B.C., you find some of the wisest [women] making great, learned speeches and then you worship them, but actually don't do very much about girls' education generally. So I think there has been a kind of dual presence of pain, respect, and saying you are great, etc., but not providing the basic facilities that make women able to lead the kind of life that they would like to and that men easily do.”

ThinkingMenKindHas BeensAblePainGirlCenturySpeechWorshipIndiaEtcProvidingDocumentsFacilityWisest
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“Women had always been thought of as looking after the family when men go and earn an income and they're the bread earner and so on. So there is a kind of generation of inequality, [and], on top of the fact, women have pregnancies and periods, [and] when the children are very small, there are greater demands on their time. So one way or another women have had a pretty rough deal in the past, and there's no reason why that should continue, and any country that has tried to remedy that has succeeded in doing so.”

MenWayShouldKindChildrenCountryReasonFactsPastDealsGreaterGenerationsPeriodsDemandIncomeBreadInequalityOne WayReason WhyNo ReasonRoughPregnancyRemedyAnother Woman
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“There may be countries [where] there's no gender inequality in schooling, even in higher education, but [where there is] gender inequality in high business. Japan is a very good example of that. You might find cases in the United States where at one level women's equality has progressed tremendously. You don't have the kind of problem of higher women's mortality as you see in South Asia, North Africa, and East Asia, China, too, and yet for American women there are some fields in which equality hasn't yet come.”

KindMayCountryStatesProblemMightLevelsUnitedCasesUnited StatesExampleFieldsHigherSouthVery GoodChinaGenderEastInequalityJapanMortalityAsiaSchoolingHigher EducationGood ExamplesAmerican WomanGender InequalityNorth AfricaSouth AsiaEast Asia
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“The understanding that women are not inferior across the world, it's something that you can get from school, not only from the book but also from chatting with other kids. It's a big impact. One of the curious things is that even when - and this we found from studies - the schools are doing pretty badly in terms of their education, about mathematics and literature and language, going to school transformed people because I think the action of schooling, the activity, is very important.”

PeopleThinkingWorldImportantBookBigsKidsActionSchoolFoundLiteratureLanguageUnderstandingTermStudyActivityMathematicsImpactCuriousTransformedInferiorsSchoolingChattingBig Impact
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“South Korea at the end of the Second World War had a very low level of literacy. But suddenly, like in Japan, they determined they were going in that direction. In 20 years' time, they had transformed themselves. So when people go on saying that it's all because of perennial culture, which you cannot change, that's not the way the South Korean economy was viewed before the war ended. But again within 30 years, people went on saying there's an ancient culture in Korea that has been pro-education, which is true.”

PeopleWorldWayYearsHas BeensWarEndsCultureLevelsEconomyGoes OnLowsSouthAncientDeterminedWar Of The WorldsJapanTransformedLiteracyKoreaKoreanSecond World WarLow LevelSouth Korea
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“The higher education has always appealed to the South Asian social leaders across all the countries in South Asia. But primary education has been neglected. The oddity, by the way, is if you look at the contrast in India, there are some areas like Kerala where there's a long history of educational development.”

IfsWayLooksLongHas BeensCountrySocialLeaderDevelopmentHigherAreasIndiaSouthEducationalPrimariesContrastAsiaAsianNeglectedHigher EducationOdditiesSouth AsiaPrimary Education
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“80 percent of the export of armament in the world comes from the G8 countries. [The] United States alone exports about 50 percent of the world's armament, [for] which, of course, there has to be buyers, and the buyers are very terribly keen, very often military dictator[s] or sometimes not military dictator[s] but for military purposes. But the sellers are also promoting this trade. And two thirds of the arm exports go to developing countries. I'm in favor of putting a control on it, a ban on it.”

WorldTwoCountrySometimesStatesPurposeCoursesUnitedUnited StatesMilitaryArmsPercentThirdsTradeFavorsDevelopingDictatorPromotingBansSellersBuyersArmamentDeveloping Countries
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“I think just as armament had a major impact of a negative kind in the world, education is something which has a major impact of a positive kind in the world. And I think the American population, with its humanity and with its concern about the future of the world, has a real reason to think about what it can do to help the world in expanding education.”

ThinkingWorldKindRealReasonHelpingHumanityCan DoMajorsConcernNegativeImpactPopulationExpandingArmament
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“After all, the American society has been also based on the premise of expanding education very early. That's been [one] of the main sources of success of the Americans. And there is something that the world can learn from it and also be assisted by the United States along with Europe and the rest of the world. I really hope that this is an issue that engages the American public.”

WorldHas BeensStatesUnitedUnited StatesIssuesSourceEuropeExpandingPremisesAmerican Society
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“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.”

IfsWorldWayHumansKindStillsSocialHuman BeingsOur LivesEconomicEffectsSecurityDevelopmentJudgmentMajorsImpactGenderPrioritiesAll KindsTransformedEquityEconomic Development
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“The identity of just one thing, the "clash of civilization" view that you're a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist or a Christian, I think that's such a limited way of seeing humanity, and schools have the opportunity to bring out the fact that we have hundreds of identities. We have our national identity. We have our cultural identity, linguistic identity, religious identity. Yes, cultural identity, professional identity, all kinds of ways.”

ThinkingWayKindFactsSchoolChristianHumanityOpportunityReligiousViewsSeeingOne ThingIdentityCivilizationAll KindsBuddhistJust OneClashCultural IdentityNational IdentityClash Of CivilizationsReligious Identity
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“An Arab activist can take pride in the Arab heritage of mathematics and science or he can take pride in his religion, and there's pride to be taken in both. But one of them could be exploited much more easily and has been in the context of world conflict. And the other is very difficult to do on the grounds that science and literature and mathematics have been among the uniting factors in the history of the world.”

WorldHas BeensLiteratureDifficultTakenPrideConflictMathematicsFactorsActivistHeritageWorld HistoryUnitingMathematics And Science
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“I think East Asian countries, I think they're very fortunate to have Buddhism survive as a strong influence because right from the time when Buddha himself, 2,500 years ago, made the point about the importance of education, and the word "Buddha" also means enlighten[ed] or educated. So all the Buddhist countries, not only Japan and Korea and China and Hong Kong and Thailand but also even Burma and Sri Lanka, had a higher level of education.”

ThinkingYearsMeanMadeCountryStrongLevelsInfluenceBuddhismHigherYears AgoImportanceChinaEastEducatedBuddhistFortunateJapanAsianKoreaEnlighteningHigher LevelHong KongThailandBurmaSri LankaImportance Of EducationAsian Countries
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“South Korea from a country that had relatively little primary education became close to universal literacy in the course of 25, 30 years, in a way trying to replicate what Japan had done earlier. They were learning to some extent from the Japanese experience too. So I think, in a sense, the East Asians were following a path, which all other countries including South Asia could follow but chose not too.”

ThinkingWayTryingYearsLittlesCountryDoneCoursesPathUniversalSouthIncludingFollowingEastPrimariesJapanOther CountriesAsiaLiteracyKoreaReplicateSouth KoreaSouth AsiaPrimary Education
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image

“I don't think poverty provides that much of an obstacle to education as one thinks. I think the bigger obstacle to education is the fact that it's a very hard thing to do for a first-generation schoolgoer. Because not to have parents at home who can help you, motivate you, is a problem even when the parents are in the abstract very keen on children being educated.”

ThinkingFirstsChildrenHardFactsHelpingProblemHomeParentPovertyGenerationsBiggerObstaclesEducatedThings To DoAbstractHard Things
Author:Amartya Sen
Create image