Quotessence
Home / Authors / Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell Quotes

Economist

Filter quotes by topic

AllPeopleIfsGovernmentPoliticalPoliticianWantFactsEconomicsLibertyPoliticsEconomicHas BeensSocialCountryEconomyWorldLeftPayStatesProblem

Famous Thomas Sowell Quotes

“Oliver Wendell Holmes said, "Think things, not words." In words, many see a need for "social justice" to override "the dictates of the market." In reality, what is called "the market" consists of human beings making their own choices at their own cost. What is called "social justice" is government imposition of the notions of third parties, who pay no price for being wrong.”

ThinkingNeedsHumansSaidRealityGovernmentChoicesSocialJusticeHuman BeingsPartyPayCostThirdsSocial JusticeNotionHolmesBeing WrongImpositionThird Parties
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“Failure is a big part of a free market's success. People fail to live up to their potential, or to carry out all their good intentions, in all kinds of economic and political systems. Capitalism makes them pay a price for their failures, while socialism, feudalism, fascism and other systems enable personal failures, especially by those at the top, to be ignored.”

PeopleKindBigsPoliticalPayFailingEconomicCapitalismIntentionSocialismAll KindsFascismIgnoredFree MarketGood IntentionsPolitical SystemsFeudalismPersonal Failure
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“No segment of the population has lost more by the agendas of the liberal constituencies of the Democratic Party than the black population. The teachers' unions, environmental fanatics and the ACLU are just some of the groups to whose interests blacks have been sacrificed wholesale. Lousy education and high crime rates in the ghettos, and unaffordable housing elsewhere with building restrictions, are devastating prices to pay for liberalism.”

Has BeensLostBlackInterestPartyPayTeacherGroupsCrimeBuildingUnionsDemocraticEnvironmentalRatePopulationLiberalismAgendasElsewhereHousingRestrictionDemocratic PartyFanaticsGhettoWholesaleCrime RatesTeachers Unions
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“As taxpayers, we have quietly accepted the fact that our taxes will be spent to pay big bucks for all sorts of ugly, twisted metal to be displayed in front of or inside government buildings, in the name of 'art' that was obviously never meant to give the public any enjoyment and often represented a thumbing of the artist's nose at the public.”

GivingArtFactsBigsGovernmentArtistNamesPayFrontsBuildingTaxesUglyAcceptedNosesEnjoymentMetalsTwistedTaxpayersBucks
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“When Congress votes for all sorts of benefits, without voting for enough taxes to pay for them, they get the support of those who have been promised the benefits, without getting grief from the taxpayers. It's strictly win-win as far as the welfare-state politicians are concerned. But it is strictly lose-lose, big-time, for the country, as deficits skyrocket.”

Has BeensCountryStatesEnoughBigsWinningLosesGriefPaySupportPoliticianTaxesBenefitsConcernedVoteCongressWelfareVotingDeficitTaxpayersWelfare StateWin Win
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“After political crusades for 'affordable housing' ended up ruining the housing market and much of the economy with it, many of the same politicians are now carrying on a crusade for 'affordable health care.' But what you can afford has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of producing anything. Refusing to pay those costs means that you are just not going to continue getting the same quantity and quality - regardless of what any politician says or how well he says it.”

WellsMeanCarePoliticalPayQualityEconomyPoliticianCostHealth CareQuantityHousingAffordableAbsolutely NothingCrusadesCarrying OnQuantity And QualityAffordable Health CareAffordable HousingHousing Market
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“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.”

ReasonGovernmentHappensCareUsedAnswersPayCompanyHigherPoliticianCostPaidPatientMedicalGuaranteesGuarantees ThatInsurance CompaniesMedical Care
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force. Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount—and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed.”

IfsDoeRealGovernmentJobsLawGivenForceLosesPayFailingCreationAmountLaborWorkersProductivityIllegalZeroMinimumEmployedUnlikelyMinimum WageEscalationLabor Force
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“Hilary Clinton said you know, it takes a village to raise a child and somebody said it takes a village idiot to believe that … it is part of the whole thing of third parties wanting to make decisions for which they pay no price for when they’re wrong.”

KnowsBelieveChildrenSaidWholeDecisionPartyPayThirdsRaisesClintonIdiotVillageThird PartiesIt Takes A VillageHilary ClintonVillage IdiotsIt Takes A Village To Raise A ChildVillage To Raise A Child
Author:Thomas Sowell
Create image

“The question is not what anybody deserves. The question is who is to take on the God-like role of deciding what everybody else deserves. You can talk about 'social justice' all you want. But what death taxes boil down to is letting politicians take money from widows and orphans to pay for goodies that they will hand out to others, in order to buy votes to get re-elected. That is not social justice or any other kind of justice.”

WantKindHandsOrderSocialJusticePayLibertyRolesEconomicPoliticianTaxesDeserveEconomicsVoteSocial JusticeTyrannyWidowsOrphanDeserve YouWidows And Orphans
Book:Controversial Essays
Create image

“Liberals love to say things like, "We're just asking everyone to pay their fair share." But government is not about asking. It is about telling. The difference is fundamental. It is the difference between making love and being raped, between working for a living and being a slave. The Internal Revenue service is not asking anybody to do anything. It confiscates your assets and puts you behind bars if you don't pay.”

IfsGovernmentDifferencesPayBehindsLibertyShareTaxesFairsAskingFundamentalsSlaveConservativeLibertarianBarsAfrican AmericanInternalsAssetsLibertarianismMaking LoveRevenueImprisonmentFair ShareWorking For A LivingAnti Liberal
Book:Barbarians Inside the Gates--and Other Controversial Essays
Create image

“In their zeal for particular kinds of decisions to be made, those with the vision of the anointed seldom consider the nature of the: process: by which decisions are made. Often what they propose amounts to third-party decision making by people who pay no cost for being wrong-surely one of the least promising ways of reaching decisions satisfactory to those who must live with the consequences.”

PeopleWayKindMadeProcessDecisionPartyPayVisionParticularAmountCostConsequenceThirdsReachingDecision MakingProposeZealBeing WrongThird Parties
Book:The Vision of the Anointed: Self-congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy
Create image

“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.”

HumansLittlesMadeEnoughTodaySchoolPastIndividualResultsPayRaceAttentionMistakeGenerationsPolicyCollegeCurrentsPhysicsHuman RaceRepeatsPersonal ExperiencesHad Enough
Book:Controversial Essays
Create image