Thomas Sowell

I have never understood why it is ‘greed’ to want to keep the money you have earned but not greed to want to take somebody else’s money.

It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.

People who pride themselves on their "complexity" and deride others for being "simplistic" should realize that the truth is often not very complicated.

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.

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

In liberal logic, if life is unfair then the answer is to turn more tax money over to politicians, to spend in ways that will increase their chances of getting reelected.

Being willing to donate the taxpayers' money is not the same as being willing to put your own money where your mouth is.

Prices are important not because money is considered paramount but because prices are a fast and effective conveyor of information through a vast society in which fragmented knowledge must be coordinated.

People who identify themselves as conservatives donate money to charity more often than people who identify themselves as liberals. They donate more money and a higher percentage of their incomes.

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It can be argued that it implies the opposite.

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

One of the common failings among honorable people is a failure to appreciate how thoroughly dishonorable some other people can be, and how dangerous it is to trust them.

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

The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything.

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.

It is amazing that people who think we cannot afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, and medication somehow think that we can afford to pay for doctors, hospitals, medication and a government bureaucracy to administer it.

The more equal society becomes, the more hard work matters.