Quotes from Thomas Sowell

There is nothing so bad that politics cannot make it worse.

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

...Politics is not about facts. It is about what politicians can get people to believe.

It is truly a triumph of rhetoric over reality when people can believe that going into politics is 'public service,' but that producing food, shelter, transportation, or medical care is not.

In politics, the truth is strictly optional and that also seems to be true in parts of the media.

France has never gotten over the fact that it was once a great power and is now just a great nuisance.

The reason so many problems do not get solved in Washington is that solving those problems is not the No. 1 priority: Re-election is.

Anyone who does not understand the utter cynicism of politics does not understand politics.

Politics is largely the process of taking credit and putting the blame on others - regardless of what the facts may be.

Everyone may be called "comrade," but some comrades have the power of life and death over other comrades.

Mystical references to society and its programs to help may warm the hearts of the gullible but what it really means is putting more power in the hands of bureaucrats.

Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.

The welfare state has always been judged by its good intentions, rather than its bad results.

People who think that they are being 'exploited' should ask themselves whether they would be missed if they left, or whether people would say: 'Good riddance?'

When government takes away options, it is bound to make some people worse off, even with intrinsicallly good intentions behind that government intervention.

It is amazing how many people seem to think that the government exists to turn their prejudices into law.

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

Government bailouts are like potato chips: You can't stop with just one.

What is politically defined as economic planning is the forcible superseding of other people's plans by Government officials.

Study after study, not only here but in other countries, show that the most affordable housing is where there has been the least government interference with the market - contrary to rhetoric.

Education is not merely neglected in many of our schools today, but is replaced to a great extent by ideological indoctrination.

The great escape of our times is escape from personal responsibility for the consequences of one's own behavior.

What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race?

Those parts of history that would undermine the vision of the Left - which prevails in our education system from elementary school to postgraduate study - are not likely to get much attention.