Thomas Sowell ( 10 of 95 )
The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites.
The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites.
No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: "But what would read more
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?
Since man does not create physical matter, those who handle material objects in the production process are not producers in read more
Since man does not create physical matter, those who handle material objects in the production process are not producers in that sense. Economic benefits result from the transformation of matter in form, location, or availability (intellectually or temporally). It is these transformations that create economic benefits valued by consumers, and whoever arranges such transformations contributes to the value of things, whether his hands actually come into contact with physical objects or not.
...each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it read more
...each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late.
The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutions" that get rid of read more
The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutions" that get rid of the whole problem- at least in their imagination.
Leaving prices out of the picture is probably the source of more fallacies in economics than any other single misconception.
Leaving prices out of the picture is probably the source of more fallacies in economics than any other single misconception.
If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.
If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.
The stricter standards and independent, often conclusive, evidence in the physical sciences cannot be generalized to intellectual activity as a read more
The stricter standards and independent, often conclusive, evidence in the physical sciences cannot be generalized to intellectual activity as a whole, even though the aura of scientific processes and results is often appropriated by other intellectuals.
To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," read more
To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," simply because such systems respond to a diversity of values. The more successfully such systems respond to diversity, the more "chaos" there will be, by definition, according to the standards of any specific set of values- other than diversity or freedom as values. Looked at another way, the more self-righteous observers there are, the more chaos (and "waste") will be seen.
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.
