Charles Murray Quotes

Charles Alan Murray is an American political scientist, author, and columnist. His book Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950–1980 , which discussed the American welfare system, was widely read and discussed, and influenced subsequent government policy. He became well known for his controversial book The Bell Curve , written with Richard Herrnstein, in which he argues that intelligence is a better predictor than parental socio-economic status or education level of many individual outcomes including income, job performance, pregnancy out of wedlock, and crime, and that social welfare programs and education efforts to improve social outcomes for the disadvantaged are largely wasted.

Murray's most successful subsequent books have been Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 and Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010 . Over his career he has published dozens of books and articles. His work has drawn accusations of scientific racism.

Murray is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.

✵ 8. January 1943 • Other names Charles Murray (author)

Charles Murray: 4 quotes 0 likes

Famous Charles Murray Quotes

“People need self-respect, but self-respect must be earned -- it cannot be self-respect if it's not earned -- and the only way to earn anything is to achieve it in the face of the possibility of failing.”

Charles Murray

Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/16997889.
Crown Forum (2012); ISBN10: 0307453421; ISBN13: 9780307453426.

“You’re out of touch with reality in that regard.”

Charles Murray

In response to "I believe that given the opportunity, most people could do most anything." from interviewer Deborah Solomon.
Questions for Charles Murray: Head of the Class http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/magazine/21wwln-Q4-t.html, New York Times Magazine, September 19, 2008.

“The United States Congress, acting with large bipartisan majorities, at the urging of the President, enacted as the law of the land that all children are to be above average.”

Charles Murray

Regarding the No Child Left Behind Act.
The Age of Educational Romanticism http://www.aei.org/article/27962, The New Criterion, Thursday, May 1, 2008.