Thomas Sowell quotes - page 6

Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, and writer, known for his work on race, economics, and political philosophy. His research and books often challenge conventional wisdom and address controversial social issues. He has significantly influenced debates on education, economics, and public policy. Here are 196 of his quotes:

In a world where young blacks, especially, are bombarded with claims that they are being unfairly targeted by police, and where a general attitude of belligerence is being promoted literally in word and song, it is hard not to wonder whether some people's responses to policemen do not have something to do with the policemen's responses to them. Neither the police nor people in any other occupation always do what is right but automatic belligerence is not the answer.

Thomas Sowell

Understanding the limitations of human beings is the beginning of wisdom.

Thomas Sowell

Most problems do not get solved. They get superseded by other concerns.

Thomas Sowell

History shows that degeneracy can be turned around because it has been done in the past. But the real question today is: Will we turn it around-or is what we are doing likely to make matters worse?

Thomas Sowell

To the economically illiterate, if some company makes a million dollars in profit, this means that their products cost a million dollars more than they would have cost without profits. It never occurs to such people that these products might cost several million dollars more to produce if they were produced by enterprises operating without the incentives to be efficient created by the prospect of profits.

Thomas Sowell

The greatness of a free-market economy is that it does not depend upon the wisdom of those who happen to be on top at the moment.

Thomas Sowell

Over the generations, black leaders have ranged from noble souls to shameless charlatans.

Thomas Sowell

Just what is it that academics have to fear if they stand up for common decency, instead of letting campus barbarians run amok?

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

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.

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

Groups that rose from poverty to prosperity seldom did so by having their own racial or ethnic leaders to follow.

Thomas Sowell

Our schools and colleges are turning out people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do.

Thomas Sowell

The biggest and most deadly 'tax' rate on the poor comes from a loss of various welfare state benefits - food stamps, housing subsidies and the like - if their income goes up.

Thomas Sowell

In various countries and times, leaders of groups that lagged behind, economically and educationally, have taught their followers to blame all their problems on other people - and to hate those other people.

Thomas Sowell

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.

Thomas Sowell

Few professors would dare to publish research or teach a course debunking the claims made in various ethnic, gender, or other 'studies' courses.

Thomas Sowell

Helping those who have been struck by unforeseeable misfortunes is fundamentally different from making dependency a way of life.

Thomas Sowell

All of us should be on guard against beliefs that flatter ourselves. At the very least, we should check such beliefs against facts.

Thomas Sowell

The time is long overdue to stop looking for progress through racial or ethnic leaders. Such leaders have too many incentives to promote polarizing attitudes and actions that are counterproductive for minorities and disastrous for the country.

Thomas Sowell

The Congressional Budget Office has been embarrassed repeatedly by making projections based on the assumption that tax revenues and tax rates move in the same direction.

Thomas Sowell

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.

Thomas Sowell