Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.
THOMAS SOWELLGovernment “planning” is not an alternative to chaos. It is a pre-emption of other people’s plans.
More Thomas Sowell Quotes
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The purpose of education is to give the student the intellectual tools to analyze, whether verbally or numerically, and to reach conclusions based on logic and evidence.
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Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on “income distribution,” the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.
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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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The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.
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Economics is a study of cause and effect relationships in an economy.
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Heedless of the past, we are flying blind into the future.
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Ronald Reagan had a vision of America. Barack Obama has a vision of Barack Obama.
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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 is called an educated person is often someone who has had a dangerously superficial exposure to a wide spectrum of subjects.
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We should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.
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Socialism is a wonderful idea. It is only as a reality that it has been disastrous.
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Failure is part of the natural cycle of business. Companies are born, companies die, capitalism moves forward.
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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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Freedom must be distinguished from democracy, with which it is often confused.
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The really painful surprise is that so many people based their hopes on his words, rather than on the record of his deeds.
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People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.
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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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It is usually futile to try to talk facts and analysis to people who are enjoying a sense of moral superiority in their ignorance.
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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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If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.
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No one chooses which culture to be born into or can be blamed for how that culture evolved in past centuries.
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Government “planning” is not an alternative to chaos. It is a pre-emption of other people’s plans.
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No matter how much people on the left talk about compassion, they have no compassion for the taxpayers.
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The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.
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Talkers are usually more articulate than doers, since talk is their specialty.
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Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.
THOMAS SOWELL