Thomas Sowell: Quotes about people

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

Thomas Sowell: 202 quotes48 likes

“What socialism, fascism and other ideologies of the left have in common is an assumption that some very wise people—like themselves—need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people, like the rest of us, and impose those decisions by government fiat.”

Thomas Sowell

"Socialist or Fascist?" http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell061212.php3#.XEZfbc2E6Mp, Jewish World Review (June 12, 2012) 2010s Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and of the economy which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.

“What was special about America was not that it had slavery, which existed all over the world, but that Americans were among the very few peoples who began to question the morality of holding human beings in bondage. That was not yet a majority view among Americans in the 18th century, but it was not even a serious minority view.”

Thomas Sowell

"The Scapegoat for Strife in the Black Community" http://www.nationalreview.com/article/420807/slavery-didnt-cause-todays-black-problems-welfare-did (7 July 2015), National Review 2010s

“Time was when people used to brag about how old they were -- and I am old enough to remember it.”

Thomas Sowell

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

“If I could offer one piece of advice to young people thinking about their future, it would be this: Don't preconceive. Find out what the opportunities are.”

Thomas Sowell

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

“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.”

Thomas Sowell

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

“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.”

Thomas Sowell

Wake up, Parents http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell081800.asp, Jewish World Review, 18 August 2000. 2000s

“The key feature of Communist propaganda has been the depiction of people who are more productive as mere exploiters of others.”

Thomas Sowell

Twentieth Century Limited
1980s–1990s, Compassion Versus Guilt and Other Essays (1987)

“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

"Driving While Black" http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell103107.php3 (31 October 2007), Jewish World Review. 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.”

Thomas Sowell

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

“To find anything comparable to crowds' euphoric reactions to Obama, you would have to go back to old newsreels of German crowds in the 1930s, with their adulation of their fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. With hindsight, we can look back on those people with pity, knowing now how many of them would be led to their deaths by the man they idolized.”

Thomas Sowell

Idols of Crowds http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2008/09/16/idols_of_crowds/page/full, Sep 16, 2008. 2000s

“Both history and contemporary data show that countries prosper more when there are stable and dependable rules, under which people can make investments without having to fear unpredictable new government interventions before these investments can pay off.”

Thomas Sowell

Economic 'Plan'?" September 11, 2012 http://lewrockwell.com/sowell/sowell110.html="An. 2010s

“People who think that they are being "exploited" should ask themselves whether they would be missed if they left, or whether people would say: "Good riddance?"”

Thomas Sowell

Random thoughts http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell042902.asp, Jewish World Review, April 29, 2002 2000s

“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.”

Thomas Sowell

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

“Neither in nature nor among human beings are either equal or randomly distributed outcomes automatic. On the contrary, grossly unequal distributions of outcomes are common, both in nature and among people, in circumstances where neither genes nor discrimination are involved… The idea that it would be a level playing field, if it were not for either genes or discrimination, is a preconception in defiance of both logic and facts.”

Thomas Sowell

Source: Discriminations and Disparities (2018), p. 17.

“It is amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. Using this kind of reasoning, you can believe or not believe anything about anything, without having to bother to deal with facts or logic.”

Thomas Sowell

Random Thoughts https://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2004/12/06/random-thoughts-n996213, Townhall, December 2004. 2000s

“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

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-2003-12-26-0312241220-story.html, South Florida Sun Sentinel, December 26, 2003 2000s