The left's obsession with the high incomes of corporate executives never seems to extend to equally high - or higher - incomes of professional athletes, entertainers, or best-selling authors like Danielle Steel. Thomas Sowell More Quotes by Thomas Sowell More Quotes From Thomas Sowell An inmate in a Florida prison wrote to agree with me on the availability of guns, saying that a 'criminal can and will get a stolen gun faster than you can get your car washed.' He also points out that many criminals prefer guns gotten illegally, since they will be harder to trace. Thomas Sowell availability florida gun It is fascinating to watch politicians come up with 'solutions' to problems that are a direct result of their previous solutions. In many cases, the most efficient thing to do would be to repeal their previous solution and stop being so gung-ho for creating new solutions in the future. But, politically, that is the last thing they will do. Thomas Sowell creating political watches It is amazing how many of the intelligentsia call it "greed" to want to keep what you have earned, but not greed to want to take away what somebody else has earned, and let politicians use it to buy votes. Thomas Sowell greed use want Envy is always referred to by its political alias, 'social justice. Thomas Sowell envy political justice Those who automatically say that the social pathology of the ghetto is due to poverty discrimination and the like cannot explain why such pathology was far less prevalent in the 1950s, when poverty and discrimination were worse. But there were not nearly as many grievance mongers and race hustlers then. Thomas Sowell poverty ghetto race Although the big word on the left is 'compassion,' the big agenda on the left is dependency. Thomas Sowell agendas bigs compassion The New York times' long-standing motto, 'All the News That's Fit to Print,' should be changed to reflect today's reality: 'Manufacturing News to Fit an Ideology.' Thomas Sowell new-york long reality Has Obama ever grown even a potted plant, much less a business, a bank, a hospital or any of the numerous other institutions whose decisions he wants to control and override? But he can talk glibly about growing the economy. Arrogance is no substitute for experience. That is why the country is in the mess it is in now. Thomas Sowell arrogance decision country No society ever thrived because it had a large and growing class of parasites living off those who produce. Thomas Sowell growing politics class Compassion is the use of public funds to buy votes Thomas Sowell democracy liberty compassion In politics, the truth is strictly optional and that also seems to be true in parts of the media. Thomas Sowell truth-is media political The curse of the intelligentsia is their ability to rationalize and re-define. Ordinary people, lacking that gift, are forced to face reality. Thomas Sowell ordinary reality people Capitalism is not an 'ism.' It is closer to being the opposite of an 'ism,' because it is simply the freedom of ordinary people to make whatever economic transactions they can mutually agree to. Thomas Sowell liberty opposites people It is truly a triumph of rhetoric over reality when people can believe that going into politics is 'public service,' but that producing food, shelter, transportation, or medical care is not. Thomas Sowell believe reality people Reality is not optional. Thomas Sowell optional reality Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back. Thomas Sowell motivational inspirational life People used to say, "Ignorance is no excuse." Today, ignorance is no problem. After all, you have "a right to your own opinion" - and self-esteem to boot. Thomas Sowell ignorance self-esteem people Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government. Thomas Sowell politician government want You need only visit campuses where whole departments feature soft courses preaching a sense of victimhood and resentment, and see the consequences in racial and ethnic polarization on campus. Thomas Sowell campus resentment needs Liberals have been driven to the desperate expedient of attributing . . .social pathology in today's ghettos to 'a legacy of slavery' even though black children grew up with two parents more often under slavery than today. Thomas Sowell ghetto two children