Thomas Sowell ( 10 of 95 )
Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast read more
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.
Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.
Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.
It is precisely those things which belong to "the people" which have historically been despoiled- wild creatures, the air, and read more
It is precisely those things which belong to "the people" which have historically been despoiled- wild creatures, the air, and waterways being notable examples. This goes to the heart of why property rights are socially important in the first place. Property rights mean self-interested monitors. No owned creatures are in danger of extinction. No owned forests are in danger of being leveled. No one kills the goose that lays the golden egg when it is his goose.
To say that a farm boy knows how to milk a cow is to say that we can send him read more
To say that a farm boy knows how to milk a cow is to say that we can send him out to the barn with an empty pail and expect him to return with milk. To say that a criminologist understands crime is not to say that we can send him out with a grant or a law and expect him to return with a lower crime rate. He is more likely to return with a report on why he has not succeeded yet, and including the inevitable need for more money, a larger staff, more sweeping powers, etc.
Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on "income distribution," the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: read more
Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on "income distribution," the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.
What is more frightening than any particular policy or ideology is the widespread habit of disregarding facts.
What is more frightening than any particular policy or ideology is the widespread habit of disregarding facts.
Civilization is an enormous device for economizing knowledge,.
Civilization is an enormous device for economizing knowledge,.
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions read more
It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.
Nobody is equal to anybody. Even the same man is not equal to himself on different days.
Nobody is equal to anybody. Even the same man is not equal to himself on different days.
The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often read more
The march of science and technology does not imply growing intellectual complexity in the lives of most people. It often means the opposite.
