Thomas Sowell

Social values in general are incrementally variable: neither safety, diversity, rational articulation, nor morality is categorically a "good thing" to read more

Social values in general are incrementally variable: neither safety, diversity, rational articulation, nor morality is categorically a "good thing" to have more of, without limits. All are subject to diminishing returns, and ultimately negative returns.

Where intellectuals have played a role in history, it has not been so much by whispering words of advice into read more

Where intellectuals have played a role in history, it has not been so much by whispering words of advice into the ears of political overlords as by contributing to the vast and powerful currents of conceptions and misconceptions that sweep human action along.

Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing read more

Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what has worked with what sounded good. In area after area- crime, education, housing, race relations- the situation has gotten worse after the bright new theories were put into operation. The amazing thing is that this history of failure and disaster has neither discouraged the social engineers nor discredited them.

The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and read more

The big divide in this country is not between Democrats and Republicans, or women and men, but between talkers and doers.

It is amazing how many of those who consider themselves "thinking people" respond automatically to words the way Pavlov's dog read more

It is amazing how many of those who consider themselves "thinking people" respond automatically to words the way Pavlov's dog was conditioned to respond to certain sounds.