Understanding the World through the Top 20 Thomas Sowell Quotes

Born in North Carolina, Thomas Sowell is one of the famous American economist and social theorist. He has awarded with National Humanities Medal in 2002. Alongside, he has won Francis Boyer Award, Bradley Prize, and getAbstract Int’l Book Award. He has written numerous books where he has expressed his thoughts on economics and other social political issues. In the age of 90, he has published his latest book Charter Schools and Their Enemies in 2020.

Here are the top 20 Thomas Sowell Quotes:

It’s amazing how much panic one honest man can spread among a multitude of hypocrites.

Panic can create chaos and chaos creates a lot of confusion which blindsides the decision-making.

Intellect is not wisdom

Wisdom comes from years of experience; you have to put your heart and soul to reach the top of your wisdom.

There are only two ways of telling the complete truth–anonymously and posthumously

Truth should be out there, no matter how good or bad it is.

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

Freedom has cost us a lot of blood and struggle and it shouldn’t be given away cheaply.

When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination

Equality is a basic right. We should know and understand the value of treating everyone equally.

There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs

For every problem, there is an alternative solution where it just needs to trade-off with something which is in current need.

The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best

When we say something is best, it should always be questioned by what makes it the best.

Competition does a much more effective job than the government at protecting consumers

When competition in the market increases, it also spikes up the quality of the products which directly benefits the consumers at large.

Rhetoric is no substitute for reality

Reality is what we have right now and there is no substitute for reality.

It doesn’t matter how smart you are unless you stop and think

Always learn to take a pause and think before you proceed further no matter how smart you are.

Life does not ask what we want. It presents us with options

Life is unpredictable and it is full of surprise. We should always be prepared for what it presents to us.

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

One should always acknowledge his own ignorance behavior.

Extrapolations are the last refuge of a groundless argument

While arguing, people tend to miss the whole point of why they have started the argument in the first place.

People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything

Meetings should always be conducted with a proper protocol.

Age gives you an excuse for not being very good at things that you were not very good at when you were young

With age, one must develop his skills and knowledge.

No one chooses which culture to be born into or can be blamed for how that culture evolved in past centuries

Culture develops over the years and it’s in no one’s hand to be in a particular culture.

Reality does not go away when it is ignored

To deal with reality, people always choose to ignore the basic fact that it is not possible to ignore.

Government “planning” is not an alternative to chaos. It is a pre-emption of other people’s plans

Not always government planning plans to bring out of chaos. It needs to be supported by the people.

Justice at all costs’ is not justice

Justice should always be equal to law.

In an age of artificial intelligence, too many of our schools and colleges are producing artificial stupidity

AI is Now part of day-to-day lives, and schools and colleges are missing the whole point of providing education. Aftermath, the majority of students are clueless about the future.