Thomas Sowell Quotes

Quotes about:

• Ours may become the first civilization destroyed, not by the power of our enemies, but by the ignorance of our teachers and the dangerous nonsense they are teaching our children. In an age of artificial intelligence, they are creating artificial stupidity.

  Thomas Sowell

  Teacher, Children, Teaching

  Thomas Sowell (2002). “Controversial Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

  206 Copy quote
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  It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.

  Thomas Sowell

  Business, Stupid, Government

  "Wake Up, Parents!". Column at Jewish World Review, www.jewishworldreview.com. August 18, 2000.

  347 Copy quote

• The next time some academics tell you how important diversity is, ask how many Republicans there are in their sociology department.

  Thomas Sowell

  Diversity, Important, Liberty

  "Random Thoughts". Column at Jewish World Review, www.jewishworldreview.com. July 31, 1998.

  156 Copy quote

• Racism is not dead, but it is on life support -- kept alive by politicians, race hustlers and people who get a sense of superiority by denouncing others as 'racists'

  Thomas Sowell

  Race, Racism, People

  266 Copy quote

• When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.

  Thomas Sowell

  Truth, Lying, Helping Others

  Thomas Sowell (2011). “The Thomas Sowell Reader”, p.398, Basic Books

  314 Copy quote

• What the political left, even in democratic countries, share is the notion that knowledgeable and virtuous people like themselves have both a right and a duty to use the power of government to impose their superior knowledge and virtue on others.

  Thomas Sowell

  Country, Government, People

  "Presumptions Of The Left". townhall.com. May 16, 2007.

  19 Copy quote

• What exactly is your 'fair share' of what 'someone else' has worked for?

  Thomas Sowell

  Exactly Is, Share, Fairs

  92 Copy quote

• The left takes its vision seriously - more seriously than it takes the rights of other people. They want to be our shepherds. But that requires us to be sheep.

  Thomas Sowell

  Sheep, Rights, People

  Thomas Sowell (2006). “Ever Wonder Why? and Other Controversial Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

  102 Copy quote

• It is bad enough that so many people believe things without any evidence. What is worse is that some people have no conception of evidence and regard facts as just someone else's opinion.

  Thomas Sowell

  Believe, People, Self Improvement

  135 Copy quote

• What do you call it when someone steals someone else's money secretly? Theft. What do you call it when someone takes someone else's money openly by force? Robbery. What do you call it when a politician takes someone else's money in taxes and gives it to someone who is more likely to vote for him? Social Justice.

  Thomas Sowell

  Giving, Justice, Vote

  205 Copy quote

• No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems - of which getting elected and re-elected are number one and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind.

  Thomas Sowell

  Two, Numbers, Political

  Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.88, ReadHowYouWant.com

  198 Copy quote

• One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.

  Thomas Sowell

  President, Liberty, Complaining

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.328, Hoover Press

  92 Copy quote

• ANYONE who studies the history of ideas should notice how much more often people on the political left, more so than others, denigrate and demonize those who disagree with them - instead of answering their arguments.

  Thomas Sowell

  Ideas, People, Political

  254 Copy quote

• You may have the right to live anyway you like, but you don't have a right to have other people like it. Respect it or pay for it.

  Thomas Sowell

  People, May, Pay

  34 Copy quote

• Would you bet your paycheck on a weather forecast for tomorrow? If not, then why should this country bet billions on global warming predictions that have even less foundation?

  Thomas Sowell

  Country, Weather, Foundation

  "Random Thoughts". Column at Jewish World Review, www.jewishworldreview.com. April 06, 1999.

  102 Copy quote

• An e-mail from a reader says that liberals like to take the moral high ground, even though their own moral relativism means that there is no moral high ground.

  Thomas Sowell

  Mean, Moral High Ground, Mail

  13 Copy quote

• In a democracy, we have always had to worry about the ignorance of the uneducated. Today we have to worry about the ignorance of people with college degrees.

  Thomas Sowell

  Ignorance, College, People

  Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.402, ReadHowYouWant.com

  114 Copy quote

• You cannot subsidize irresponsibility and expect people to become more responsible.

  Thomas Sowell

  People, Responsible, Irresponsibility

  Thomas Sowell (1993). “Is Reality Optional?: And Other Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

  102 Copy quote

• One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today has been tried before and proved disastrous before, time and again.

  Thomas Sowell

  Stupid, Ideas, Important

  115 Copy quote

• Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.

  Thomas Sowell

  People, Important, Fabric

  Thomas Sowell (2006). “Ever Wonder Why? and Other Controversial Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

  198 Copy quote

• Not since the days of the Hitler Youth have young people been subjected to more propaganda on more politically correct issues. At one time, educators boasted that their role was not to teach students what to think but how to think. Today, their role is far too often to teach students what to think on everything from immigration to global warming to the new sacred trinity of 'race, class and gender.'

  Thomas Sowell

  Thinking, Class, Issues

  237 Copy quote

• Although the big word on the left is 'compassion,' the big agenda on the left is dependency.

  Thomas Sowell

  Compassion, Agendas, Bigs

  35 Copy quote

• What is especially disturbing about the political left is that they seem to have no sense of the tragedy of the human condition. Instead, they tend to see the problems of the world as due to other people not being as wise or as noble as themselves.

  Thomas Sowell

  Wise, People, Political

  Thomas Sowell (2010). “Dismantling America: And Other Controversial Essays”, p.337, Basic Books

  43 Copy quote

• One of the painful signs of years of dumbed-down education is how many people are unable to make a coherent argument. They can vent their emotions, question other people's motives, make bold assertions, repeat slogans-- anything except reason.

  Thomas Sowell

  Education, Years, People

  Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.403, ReadHowYouWant.com

  117 Copy quote

• You cannot take any people, of any color, and exempt them from the requirements of civilization - including work, behavioral standards, personal responsibility, and all the other basic things that the clever intelligentsia disdain - without ruinous consequences to them and to society at large.

  Thomas Sowell

  Clever, Responsibility, Color

  "What Ails Baltimore? Liberalism, Corruption & Incompetence" by Jack Kelly, www.realclearpolitics.com. May 10, 2015.

  44 Copy quote

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