The real culprits are those who created a system that makes it dangerous to work and safe to loaf. Thomas Sowell More Quotes by Thomas Sowell More Quotes From Thomas Sowell People who pride themselves on their "complexity" and deride others for being "simplistic" should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth. Thomas Sowell realizing pride people Implicit in the activist conception of government is the assumption that you can take the good things in a complex system for granted, and just improve the things that are not so good. What is lacking in this conception is any sense that a society, an institution, or even a single human being, is an intricate system of fragile inter-relationships, whose complexities are little understood and easily destabilized. Thomas Sowell assumption government littles Our economic problems worry me much less than our political solutions, which have a far worse track record. Thomas Sowell track political worry Whenever people talk glibly of a need to achieve educational "excellence," I think of what an improvement it would be if our public schools could just achieve mediocrity. Thomas Sowell educational school thinking When you start off by telling those who disagree with you that they are not merely in error but in sin, how much of a dialogue do you expect? Thomas Sowell human-nature errors sin Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy. It's purpose is to discern the consequences of various ways of allocating resources which have alternative uses. It has nothing to say about philosophy or values, anymore than it has to say about music or literature. Thomas Sowell alternatives causes philosophy The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best. Thomas Sowell libertarian liberty inspirational The least productive people are usually the ones who are most in favor of holding meetings. Thomas Sowell productive-life productive-work procrastination We don‘t have faith that #freedom works. We have evidence. Thomas Sowell evidence have-faith Subsidies are a shell game, not a net addition to national wealth. Thomas Sowell subsidies shells games Why the transfer of decisions from those with personal experience and a stake in the outcome to those with neither can be expected to lead to better decisions is a question seldom asked, much less answered. Thomas Sowell outcomes liberty decision 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 party government would-be In politics, throwing the taxpayers' money at disasters is supposed to show your compassion. But robbing Peter to pay Paul is not compassion. It is politics. Thomas Sowell disaster compassion pay The first rule of economics is that there is an infinite number of desires chasing a finite number of goods, services and resources. The first rule of politics is to ignore the first rule of economics. Thomas Sowell finite-number desire numbers As for gun control advocates, I have no hope whatever that any facts whatever will make the slightest dent in their thinking - or lack of thinking. Thomas Sowell gun hope thinking If we become a people who are willing to give up our money and our freedom in exchange for rhetoric and promises, then nothing can save us. Thomas Sowell giving-up people promise The law of diminishing returns means that even the most beneficial prinicple will become harmful if carried far enough. Thomas Sowell law science mean Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on "income distribution," the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned. Thomas Sowell income-distribution political philosophy The real minimum wage is zero. Thomas Sowell minimum-wage zero real When your response to everything that is wrong with the world is to say, 'there ought to be a law,' you are saying that you hold freedom very cheap. Thomas Sowell response law world
