Quotes by Thomas Sowell

About Thomas Sowell:

Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author.
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People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.

Thomas Sowell

President Obama seems completely unaware of how many of the policies he is trying to impose have been tried before, in many times and places around the world, and have failed time and again.

Thomas Sowell

Being willing to donate the taxpayers' money is not the same as being willing to put your own money where your mouth is.

Thomas Sowell

People who identify themselves as conservatives donate money to charity more often than people who identify themselves as liberals. They donate more money and a higher percentage of their incomes.

Thomas Sowell

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.

Thomas Sowell

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.

Thomas Sowell

Without a moral framework, there is nothing left but immediate self-indulgence by some and the path of least resistance by others. Neither can sustain a free society.

Thomas Sowell

It is hard to read a newspaper or watch a television newscast without encountering someone who has come up with a new 'solution' to society's 'problems.'

Thomas Sowell

The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and doers.

Thomas Sowell

There are only two ways of telling the complete truth - anonymously and posthumously.

Thomas Sowell

If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.

Thomas Sowell

The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.

Thomas Sowell

All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting 'the rich' to pay 'their fair share' is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics.

Thomas Sowell

Price controls almost invariably produce black markets, where prices are not only higher than the legally permitted prices, but also higher than they would be in a free market, since the legal risks must also be compensated. While small-scale black m...

Thomas Sowell

Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on "income distribution," the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.

Thomas Sowell

Bailing out people who made ill-advised mortgages makes no more sense that bailing out people who lost their life savings in Las Vegas casinos.

Thomas Sowell

The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take people's money away quietly and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly.

Thomas Sowell

What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race?

Thomas Sowell

When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.

Thomas Sowell

If politicians stopped meddling with things they don't understand, there would be a more drastic reduction in the size of government than anyone in either party advocates.

Thomas Sowell

It would be very heard, for example, a basketball owner, no matter how racist he was, to try to operate without Blacks. It would be suicidal.

Thomas Sowell

Author Bio

  • NameThomas Sowell
  • DescriptionAmerican economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author
  • BornJune 30, 1930
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionEconomist
  • AwardsNational Humanities Medal