No government of the left has done as much for the poor as capitalism has. Even when it comes to the redistribution of income, the left talks the talk but the free market walks the walk.
THOMAS SOWELLDespite a voluminous and often fervent literature on “income distribution,” the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.
More Thomas Sowell Quotes
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People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.
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What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race?
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No-one is equal to anything. Even the same man is not equal to himself on different days.
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It is scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repetition of a word.
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The history of which peoples, nations, or civilizations have conquered or enslaved which other peoples, nations, or civilizations has been largely a history of who has been in a position to do so.
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The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.
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A society in which such decisions can only be made by males has thrown away half of its knowledge, talents, and insights.
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The question is not what anybody deserves. The question is who is to take on the God-like role of deciding what everybody else deserves.
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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.
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A society that puts equality – in the sense of equality of outcome – ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.
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It has nothing to say about philosophy or values, anymore than it has to say about music or literature.
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It doesn’t matter how smart you are unless you stop and think.
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The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.
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One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.
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Socialism is a wonderful idea. It is only as a reality that it has been disastrous.
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People who pride themselves on their “complexity” and deride others for being “simplistic” should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth.
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One of the consequences of such notions as ‘entitlements’ is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.
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What then is the intellectual advantage of civilization over primitive savagery? It is not necessarily that each civilized man has more knowledge but that he requires far less.
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I am so old that I can remember when other people’s achievements were considered to be an inspiration, rather than a grievance.
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Age gives you an excuse for not being very good at things that you were not very good at when you were young.
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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.
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Competition does a much more effective job than government at protecting consumers.
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What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don’t like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don’t expect freedom to survive very long.
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The government is indeed an institution, but “the market” is nothing more than an option for each individual to chose among numerous existing institutions, or to fashion new arrangements suited to his own situation and taste.
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One of the first things taught in introductory statistics textbooks is that correlation is not causation. It is also one of the first things forgotten.
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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.
THOMAS SOWELL