In short, numbers are accepted as evidence when they agree with preconceptions, but not when they don’t.
THOMAS SOWELLWhat 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.
More Thomas Sowell Quotes
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Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.
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Suppose you are wrong? How would you know? How would you test for that possibility?
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We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did.
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Socialism is a wonderful idea. It is only as a reality that it has been disastrous.
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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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If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.
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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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There are only two ways of telling the complete truth – anonymously and posthumously.
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Economics is more than just a way to see patterns or to unravel puzzling anomalies.
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Virtually no idea is too ridiculous to be accepted, even by very intelligent and highly educated people, if it provides a way for them to feel special and important. Some confuse that feeling with idealism.
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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 media are less a window on reality, than a stage on which officials and journalists perform self-scripted, self-serving fictions.
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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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Life does not ask what we want. It presents us with options.
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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.
THOMAS SOWELL