Thomas Sowell Quotes About Liberty

Quotes about: Liberty

• 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.

• 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.

• Blacks were not enslaved because they were black but because they were available. Slavery has existed in the world for thousands of years. Whites enslaved other whites in Europe for centuries before the first black was brought to the Western hemisphere. Asians enslaved Europeans. Asians enslaved other Asians. Africans enslaved other Africans, and indeed even today in North Africa, blacks continue to enslave blacks.

  Thomas Sowell

  Years, Europe, Black

• One of the consequences of such notions as ‘entitlements’ is that people who have contributed nothing to society feel that society owes them something, apparently just for being nice enough to grace us with their presence.

  Thomas Sowell

  Nice, People, Grace

• 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

• If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else's expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves

  Thomas Sowell

  Giving, Voting, Promise

• Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.

  Thomas Sowell

  Intellectual, Liberty, Records

  Thomas Sowell (2011). “The Thomas Sowell Reader”, p.144, Basic Books

• No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: 'But what would you replace it with?' When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?

  Thomas Sowell

  Fire, Liberty, Matter

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

• 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

  Opposites, People, Liberty

• The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.

  Thomas Sowell

  Inspirational, Liberty, Libertarian

  Thomas Sowell (1996). “Knowledge And Decisions”, p.79, Basic Books

• We enjoy freedom and the rule of law on which it depends, not because we deserve it, but because others before us put their lives on the line to defend it.

  Thomas Sowell

  Freedom, Law, Black

• There is nothing so bad that politics cannot make it worse.

  Thomas Sowell

  Political, Liberty, Libertarian

• Mystical references to society and its programs to help may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.

  Thomas Sowell

  Heart, Mean, Hands

• Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.

  Thomas Sowell

  Past, Gdp, Liberty

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

• The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take people's money away quietly, and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly.

  Thomas Sowell

  Games, People, Giving

• 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.

  Thomas Sowell

  Liberty, Economic, Responsible

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays”, p.332, Hoover Press

• The question is not what anybody deserves. The question is who is to take on the God-like role of deciding what everybody else deserves. You can talk about 'social justice' all you want. But what death taxes boil down to is letting politicians take money from widows and orphans to pay for goodies that they will hand out to others, in order to buy votes to get re-elected. That is not social justice or any other kind of justice.

  Thomas Sowell

  Hands, Order, Deserve You

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Controversial Essays”, p.59, Hoover Press

• Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality.

  Thomas Sowell

  Reality, Liberty, Littles

• If politicians were serious about day care for children, instead of just sloganizing about it, nothing they could do would improve the quality of child care more than by lifting the heavy burden of taxation that forces so many families to have both parents working.

  Thomas Sowell

  Children, Day Care, Parent

  Thomas Sowell (2013). “Controversial Essays”, p.319, Hoover Press

• 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.

  Thomas Sowell

  Government, Libertarian Party, Long

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

• Liberals love to say things like, "We're just asking everyone to pay their fair share." But government is not about asking. It is about telling. The difference is fundamental. It is the difference between making love and being raped, between working for a living and being a slave. The Internal Revenue service is not asking anybody to do anything. It confiscates your assets and puts you behind bars if you don't pay.

  Thomas Sowell

  Government, Differences, Making Love

  Thomas Sowell (1999). “Barbarians Inside the Gates--and Other Controversial Essays”, Hoover Inst Press

• There is no talent so ardently supported, nor generously rewarded, as the ability to convince parasites they are victims.

  Thomas Sowell

  Liberty, Talent, Victim

• People who are very aware that they have more knowledge than the average person are often very unaware that they do not have one-tenth of the knowledge of all of the average persons put together. In this situation, for the intelligentsia to impose their notions on ordinary people is essentially to impose ignorance on knowledge.

  Thomas Sowell

  Ignorance, Average, People

• Compassion is the use of public funds to buy votes

  Thomas Sowell

  Compassion, Liberty, Democracy

• Why is history important? Without history, many people have no idea how many of today's half-baked ideas have been tried, again and again - and have repeatedly led to disaster. Most of these ideas are not new. They are just being recycled with re-treaded rhetoric.

  Thomas Sowell

  Ideas, People, Liberty

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