Thomas Sowell Quotes

In short, it is not merely that Johnny can't read, or even that Johnny can't think. Johnny doesn't know what thinking is, because thinking is so often confused with feeling in many public schools. [emphasis in the original]

The key feature of Communist propaganda has been the depiction of people who are more productive as mere exploiters of others.

Understanding the limitations of human beings is the beginning of wisdom.

The case for the political left looks more plausible on the surface but is harder to keep believing in as you become more experienced.

One of the grand fallacies of our time is that something beneficial should be subsidized.

Facts do not "speak for themselves." They speak for or against competing theories. Facts divorced from theory or visions are mere isolated curiosities.

We will do almost anything for our visions, except think about them. The purpose of this book is to think about them.

Before attempting to determine the effect of institutions, it is necessary to consider the inherent circumstances, constraints, and impelling forces at work in the environment within which the institutional mechanisms function.

Key indicators require some specified time span during which they are to be tabulated for purposes of reward or penalty. The time span can vary enormously according to the process and the indicator.

While decisions are constrained by the kinds of organizations and the kinds of knowledge involved, the Impetus for decisions comes from the internal preferences and external incentives facing those who actually make the decisions.

It is unnecessary to attempt any general rule as to where the overall balance lies in comparing the respective costs of knowledge in larger and smaller decision-making units. What is important is to understand that (1) the respective cost advantages of the large and small units differ according to the kind of knowledge involved (general versus specific), that (2) most decisions involve mixtures of the two kinds of knowledge, so that the net advantages of the larger and smaller units vary with the kind of decision, and (3) the effectiveness of hierarchical subordination varies with the extent to which the subordinate unit has knowledge advantages over the higher unit.

Knowledge may be enjoyed as a speculative diversion, but it is needed for decision making.

Civilization is an enormous device for economizing on knowledge.

Ideas, as the raw material from which knowledge is produced, exist in superabundance, but that makes the production of knowledge more difficult rather than easier.

Ideas are everywhere, but knowledge is rare.