The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best. Thomas Sowell More Quotes by Thomas Sowell More Quotes From Thomas Sowell American prosperity and American free enterprise are both highly unusual in the world, and we should not overlook the possibility that the two are connected. Thomas Sowell prosperitytwoworld The cavemen had the same natural resources at their disposal as we have today, and the difference between their standard of living and ours is a difference between the knowledge they could bring to bear on those resources and the knowledge used today. Thomas Sowell cavemendifferencestoday Someone once said that the most important knowledge is knowledge of our own ignorance. Our schools are depriving millions of students of that kind of knowledge by promoting "self-esteem" and encouraging them to have opinions on things of which they are grossly ignorant, if not misinformed. Thomas Sowell self-esteemeducationschool The same set of statistics can produce opposite conclusions at different levels of aggregation. Thomas Sowell differentoppositesscience The talkers and writers resent being left on the sidelines by the doers. Thomas Sowell talkerssidelinesdoers When a highly successful leader retires after a long career, it is very unlikely that his successor will be of comparable caliber. Anyone of similar ability and drive would have gone somewhere else, instead of waiting in the wings for years for a chance to show his own leadership. Thomas Sowell successfulleadershipyears Much of the world today, including the United States, is still living in the social, cultural, and political aftermath of Britain's cultural achievements, its industrial revolution, its government of checks and balances, and its conquests around the world. Thomas Sowell achievementgovernmenthistory Nothing as mundane as mere evidence can be allowed to threaten a vision so deeply satisfying. Thomas Sowell mundaneevidencevision Doing the right thing is fun. If nothing else, it surprises people. Thomas Sowell surprisefunpeople The idealism of the left is a very selfish idealism. In their war against 'the rich' and big business, they don't care how much collateral damage there is to workers who end up end up unemployed. Thomas Sowell selfishcarewar Where intellectuals have played a role in history, it has not been so much by whispering words of advice into the ears of political overlords as by contributing to the vast and powerful currents of conceptions and misconceptions that sweep human action along. Thomas Sowell politicalpowerfuladvice When Congress votes for all sorts of benefits, without voting for enough taxes to pay for them, they get the support of those who have been promised the benefits, without getting grief from the taxpayers. It's strictly win-win as far as the welfare-state politicians are concerned. But it is strictly lose-lose, big-time, for the country, as deficits skyrocket. Thomas Sowell griefwinningcountry Price fixing does not represent simply windfall gains and losses to particular groups according to whether the price happens to be set higher or lower than it would be otherwise. It represents a net lose to the economy as a whole to the extent that many transactions do not take place at all, because the mutually acceptable possibilities have been reduced. Thomas Sowell groupsdoeloss More than half of all people filing income tax forms use someone else to prepare the forms for them. Then they have to sign under penalty of perjury that these forms are correct. But if they were competent to determine that, why would they have to pay someone else to do their taxes for them in the first place? Thomas Sowell incomeusepeople Ego trips by coteries of self-exalting people are treated in the media as idealism, rather than the petty tyranny it is. Thomas Sowell mediaselfpeople Experience trumps brilliance. Thomas Sowell brilliancetrumppolitical In medicine, it has long been recognized that even a quack remedy that is harmless in itself can be fatal when it substitutes for an effective medication or treatment. The time is overdue for that same recognition to apply to politics. Thomas Sowell medicinepoliticallong 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. Thomas Sowell intelligentpeopleideas The economic disasters of socialism and communism come from assuming a blanket superiority of those who want to run a whole economy. Thomas Sowell assumingwantrunning Barack Obama's vision of America is one in which a President of the United States can fire the head of General Motors, tell banks how to bank, control the medical system and take charge of all sorts of other activities for which neither he nor other politicians have any expertise or experience. Thomas Sowell visionfireamerica
