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Quote by Thomas Sowell

“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.”

Quote by Thomas Sowell

Author

Thomas Sowell is a renowned economist, born on June 30, 1930. His research spans across various fields such as economic policy, race, and social issues, having a profound impact on economics and the social sciences. more

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“Mystical references to society and its programs to help may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.”

Heart May Mean Helping Hands Liberty Poverty Economic Program Warm Libertarian Welfare Libertarianism Mystical Really Mean Bureaucrats Gullible

Author:Thomas Sowell

“Facts do not speak for themselves. They speak for or against competing theories. Facts divorced from theories or visions are mere isolated curiosities.”

Facts Speak Vision Economy Theory Mere Curiosity Divorce Isolated Competing Divorced

Book:A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles

Source: A Conflict of Visions: Idealogical Origins of Political Struggles

“Like a baseball game, wars are not over till they are over. Wars don't run on a clock like football. No previous generation was so hopelessly unrealistic that this had to be explained to them.”

War Running Games Economy Generations Football Baseball Clock Hopeless Baseball Games Previous Generations

Author:Thomas Sowell

“The black family survived centuries of slavery and generations of Jim Crow, but it has disintegrated in the wake of the liberals' expansion of the welfare state.”

States Black Generations Century Slavery Welfare Expansion Survived Crow Welfare State Jim Crow Black Family

Author:Thomas Sowell

“Even if the government spends itself into bankruptcy and the economy still does not recover, Keynesians can always say that it would have worked if only the government had spent more.”

Ifs Doe Stills Government Economy Conservative Bankruptcy

Author:Thomas Sowell

“Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today's problems are a result of yesterday's solutions.”

Ifs Sometimes Problem Seems Today Turns Results Solutions Yesterday Scrutiny

Author:Thomas Sowell

“Those who cry out that the government should 'do something' never even ask for data on what has actually happened when the government did something, compared to what actually happened when the government did nothing.”

Should Government Asks Happened Cry Data

Author:Thomas Sowell

“Imagine a political system so radical as to promise to move more of the poorest 20% of the population into the richest 20% than remain in the poorest bracket within the decade? You don't need to imagine it. It's called the United States of America.”

Needs States America Moving Political United United States Imagine Promise Population Decades Radical United States Of America Poorest Political Systems Brackets

Author:Thomas Sowell

“The simplest and most psychologically satisfying explanation of any observed phenomenon is that it happened that way because someone wanted it to happen that way.”

Way Happens Wanted Economy Happened Explanation Phenomenon Satisfying Simplest

Book:Knowledge And Decisions

Source: Knowledge And Decisions

“Wishful thinking is not idealism. It is self-indulgence at best and self-exaltation at worst. In either case, it is usually at the expense of others. In other words, it is the opposite of idealism.”

Thinking Self Cases Worst Opposites Expenses Idealism Indulgence Wishful Thinking Exaltation Self Indulgence

Author:Thomas Sowell