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.
THOMAS SOWELLIf 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.
More Thomas Sowell Quotes
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Clearly, only very unequal intellectual and moral standing could justify having equality imposed, whether the people want it or not, as Dworkin suggests, and only very unequal power would make it possible.
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Reality does not go away when it is ignored.
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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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It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.
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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.
THOMAS SOWELL -
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.
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When people are presented with the alternatives of hating themselves for their failure or hating others for their success, they seldom choose to hate themselves.
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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.
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It’s amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.
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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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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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There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.
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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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It doesn’t matter how smart you are unless you stop and think.
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What all these lofty and vague phrases boil down to is that the court can impose things that the voters don’t want and the Constitution does not require, but which are in vogue in circles to which the court responds.
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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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The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites.
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Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.
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Racism does not have a good track record. It’s been tried out for a long time and you’d think by now we’d want to put an end to it instead of putting it under new management.
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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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Freedom must be distinguished from democracy, with which it is often confused.
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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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Some people imagine that they are well informed because they have memorized a whole galaxy of trendy dogmas and fashionable attitudes.
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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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Many on the political left are so entranced by the beauty of their vision that they cannot see the ugly reality they are creating in the real world.
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People are all born ignorant but they are not born stupid.
THOMAS SOWELL