Thomas Sowell

“Do all children have some inherent right to live in America if they have done nothing wrong? If not, then why should the children of illegal immigrants have such a right?”

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

“Even if the government spends itself into bankruptcy and the economy still does not recover, Keynesians can always say that it would have worked if only the government had spent more.”

“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.”

“Even the Soviet Union, with its huge nuclear arsenal, was a threat that could be deterred by the prospect of retaliation. But suicide bombers cannot be deterred. They can only be annihilated - preemptively and unilaterally, if necessary.”

“Facts are not liberals' strong suit. Rhetoric is.”

“Being willing to donate the taxpayers' money is not the same as being willing to put your own money where your mouth is.”

“Helping those who have been struck by unforeseeable misfortunes is fundamentally different from making dependency a way of life.”

“All of us should be on guard against beliefs that flatter ourselves. At the very least, we should check such beliefs against facts.”

“Sometimes it seems as if there are more solutions than problems. On closer scrutiny, it turns out that many of today's problems are a result of yesterday's solutions.”

“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.”

“Life in general has never been even close to fair, so the pretense that the government can make it fair is a valuable and inexhaustible asset to politicians who want to expand government.”

“Our schools and colleges are turning out people who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do.”

“Imagine a political system so radical as to promise to move more of the poorest 20% of the population into the richest 20% than remain in the poorest bracket within the decade? You don't need to imagine it. It's called the United States of America.”

“The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.”

“Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality.”

“The simplest and most psychologically satisfying explanation of any observed phenomenon is that it happened that way because someone wanted it to happen that way.”

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

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

“People who have time on their hands will inevitably waste the time of people who have work to do.”