Thomas Sowell: Doing

Thomas Sowell is American economist, social theorist, political philosopher and author. Explore interesting quotes on doing.

Thomas Sowell: 202 quotes48 likes

“The fact that the market is not doing what we wish it would do is no reason to automatically assume that the government would do better.”

“The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.”

"The Survival of the Left" https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1997/0908/6005128a.html, Forbes (Sep 8, 1997) <br class="br">1980s–1990s

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

Source: 1980s–1990s, A Conflict of Visions (1987), Ch. 1 : The Role of Vision

“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.”

Will Property Rights Return?
1980s–1990s, Is Reality Optional? (1993)

“Many of the dangerous things that drivers do are not likely to save them even 10 seconds. When you bet your life against 10 seconds, that is giving bigger odds than you are ever likely to get in Las Vegas.”

1980s–1990s, Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays (1999)

“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong. Know-it-alls in the school system do not lose one dime or one hour's sleep if their bright ideas turn out to be all wrong, or even disastrous, for the child.”

Wake up, Parents http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell081800.asp, Jewish World Review, 18 August 2000. <br class="br">2000s

“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.”

"Driving While Black" http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell103107.php3 (31 October 2007), Jewish World Review. <br class="br">2000s

“Before the Iraq war I was quite disturbed by some of the neoconservatives, who were saying things like, "What is the point of being a superpower if you can't do such-and-such, take on these responsibilities?" The point of being a superpower is that people will leave you alone.”

"Live" with Thomas Sowell https://www.aei.org/publication/live-thomas-sowell/, The American Enterprise, September 2004. <br class="br">2000s

“One of the most ridiculous defenses of foreign aid is that it is a very small part of our national income. If the average American set fire to a five-dollar bill, it would be an even smaller percentage of his annual income. But everyone would consider him foolish for doing it.”

1980s–1990s, Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays (1999)

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

1980s–1990s, Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays (1999)

“What the welfare system and other kinds of governmental programs are doing is paying people to fail. In so far as they fail, they receive the money; in so far as they succeed, even to a moderate extent, the money is taken away.”

During a discussion in Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose" television series in 1980.
1980s–1990s

“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?”

Barbarians inside the Gates?
1980s–1990s, Barbarians inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays (1999)