Thomas Sowell Quotes

“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.”

“Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.”

“Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.”

“If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.”

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

“Inflation is the most universal tax of all. It is a way to take people's wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes.”

“Hyperinflation can take virtually your entire life's savings, without the government having to bother raising the official tax rate at all.”

“Tariffs that save jobs in the steel industry mean higher steel prices, which in turn means fewer sales of American steel products around the world and losses of far more jobs than are saved.”

“Balanced budget requirements seem more likely to produce accounting ingenuity than genuinely balanced budgets.”

“Elections should be held on April 16th, the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders.”

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

“Life in general has never been even close to fair.”

“The old adage about giving a man a fish versus teaching him how to fish has been updated by a reader: Give a man a fish and he will ask for tartar sauce and French fries!”