Quotes from Thomas Sowell

In the Portuguese colony of Angola, during the closing decades of the nineteenth century, no contract laborer who went to the offshore island of Sao Tome was ever known to have returned alive.

Mientras que el capitalismo tiene un coste visible —la ganancia— que no existe bajo el socialismo, el socialismo tiene un coste invisible —la ineficiencia— que es erradicado en el capitalismo a través de las pérdidas y la quiebra

Attempting to control simultaneously for part-time versus full-time employment and for the effect of children and domestic responsibilities, another study found "that the gender pay gap is 5 percent for part-time workers age 21–35 without children, under 3 percent for full-time workers age 21–35 without children, and that there is no pay gap for full-time workers age 21–35 living alone.

The first edition of this book addressed the seemingly invincible fallacy that statistical disparities in socioeconomic outcomes imply either biased treatment of the less fortunate or genetic deficiencies in the less fortunate.

In other words, it is the amount of money that colleges and universities can get—from tuition, endowment income, donations, etc.—which determines how much their spending or costs will go up, not the other way around, as they represent it to the public. To say that costs are going up is no more than to say that the additional intake is being spent, rather than hoarded. When

An estimated 60,000 out of the 80,000 Herero were in fact killed before the general was recalled to Berlin.122

the breakdown of law and order brought on by constantly stirred bitter resentments almost invariably leads to more suffering among the less fortunate.

attained democracy, as brutal dictatorships took over, led to the cynical phrase: One man, one vote-one time.

En la China del siglo XXI se utiliza siete veces más energía que la que se emplea en Japón para producir productos del mismo valor. En este caso, las diferencias gigantescas en cuanto a la eficiencia también han significado diferencias gigantescas en el estándar de vida de millones de seres humanos.

In the later era, people living in safety purchased with other people's lives could loftily dismiss bridges as "meaningless," when in warfare the control of bridges can be a matter of life and death for armies and for the fate of whole nations.

Aunque la palabra «economía» puede traer el término dinero a la mente de muchos, lo cierto es que para el conjunto de la sociedad el dinero no es más que un instrumento artificial que permite que se hagan cosas reales, pues, de lo contrario, el gobierno podría hacernos ricos a todos simplemente imprimiendo más billetes. No es el dinero sino el volumen de bienes y servicios lo que determina si un país es pobre o próspero.

The most fundamental fact about the ideas of the political left is that they do not work. Therefore we should not be surprised to find the left concentrated in institutions where ideas do not have to work in order to survive.

Lo admirable de los mercados es que logran conciliar las preferencias de una multitud de individuos distintos. WILLIAM EASTERLY

To say that merit may be the same is not to say that productivity is the same. Nor can we logically or morally ignore the discrepancy in the relative urgency of those who want their shoes repaired versus those in need of brain surgery. In other words, it is not a question of simply weighing the interest of one income recipient versus the interest of another income recipient, while ignoring the vastly larger number of other people whose well-being depends on what these individuals produce. If

The old are not really smarter than the young, in terms of sheer brainpower. It is just that we have already made the kinds of mistakes that the young are about to make, and we have already suffered the consequences that the young are going to suffer if they disregard the record of the past.

The vision of the left, and I think many conservatives underestimate this, is really a more attractive vision in itself. The only reason for not believing in it is, it doesn't work. If the world were the way the left conceives it to be, it would be a better world than the way the right conceives it to be. It just happens that the world is not that way.

According to an official document of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, right-wing extremists include "groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration." It also includes those "rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

Liberals take positions that make them look good and feel good — and show very little interest in the actual consequences for others, even when liberal policies are leaving havoc in their wake.

Have we reached the ultimate state of absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while other people are not held responsible for what they themselves are doing today?

The futility of attempting to upgrade the teaching profession by paying higher salaries is obvious, so long as legal barriers keep out all those who refuse to take education courses. These courses are negative barriers, in the sense that they keep out the competent. It is Darwinism stood on its head, with the unfittest being most likely to survive as public school teachers. The

Out of 160 physicians in Nigeria in the early 1950s, 76 were Yorubas, 49 were Ibos and only one was Hausa-Fulani.

This is the age of the complaining classes, whether they are lawyers, community activists, radical feminists, race hustlers, or other squeaking wheels looking for oil. No society ever thrived because it had a large and growing class of parasites living off those who produce.

In point of fact, the racism on the campuses is greater than that in the larger society in many campuses. And what I worry about is that they're going to graduate into the general society, blacks and whites alike, who hate each other's guts and who will be the new leaders of new racial strife for the future. (ca.1990)

1870, Britain produced 32 percent of all the manufactured goods in the world, followed by the United States at 23 percent and Germany at 13 percent.