Frases de Thomas Sowell

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“El problema no es que Johnny no sepa leer. El problema no es que Johnny no pueda pensar. El problema es que Johnny no sabe qué es pensar; lo confunde con sentir.”

“La primera lección en economía es la escasez: nunca hay suficiente de aquello para satisfacer plenamente a todos aquellos que lo desean. La primera lección de política es ignorar por completo la primera lección de economía.”

“Es asombroso cuánto pánico puede propagar un hombre honesto en una multitud de hipócritas.”

“Algunos de los casos más grandes de identidad errónea se encuentran entre los intelectuales que tienen problemas para recordar que no son Dios.”

“Gran parte de la historia social del mundo occidental en las últimas tres décadas ha estado implicada en reemplazar lo que funcionó con lo que sonaba bien. Área tras área (crimen, educación, vivienda, relaciones raciales) la situación ha empeorado tras poner en práctica las nuevas y brillantes teorías. Lo sorprendente es que esta historia de fracaso y desastre no ha desanimado a los ingenieros sociales ni a desacreditarlos.”

“Las personas que se enorgullecen de su "complejidad" y se burlan de los demás por ser "simplistas" deberían darse cuenta de que la verdad a menudo no es muy complicada. Lo que se vuelve complejo es evadir la verdad.”

“Si ha votado por políticos que prometen darle golosinas a costa de otra persona, entonces no tiene derecho a quejarse cuando le quitan su dinero y se lo dan a otra persona, incluso a ellos mismos.”

“Nada es más fácil que tener buenas intenciones. Pero cuando no se entiende cómo funciona una economía, las buenas intenciones pueden llevar a consecuencias desastrosas”

“Bajo un gobierno electo popularmente, los incentivos políticos son hacer lo que es popular, a pesar de sus posibles consecuencias negativas, o hacer algo tan popular como sea posible”

“La madurez no es cuestión de edad. Has madurado cuando ya no te importa demostrar cuán inteligente eres y prestas toda tu atención para hacer bien tu trabajo. Muchos nunca llegan a esa etapa, no importa cuán viejos sean.”

“Nunca he entendido por qué es "codicia" querer conservar el dinero que has ganado, pero no es codicia querer tomar el dinero de otra persona.”

“A pesar de una literatura voluminosa y a menudo fervorosa sobre la "distribución del ingreso", la fría realidad es que la mayoría de los ingresos no se distribuyen: se ganan.”

“El racismo no tiene un buen historial. Ha sido probado durante mucho tiempo y se podría pensar que a estas alturas ya querríamos ponerle fin en lugar de ponerlo bajo una nueva dirección.”

“Desafortunadamente, el no lo hizo, por lo que llamó por teléfono a un hospital local para enviar una ambulancia.”

“What socialism, fascism and other ideologies of the left have in common is an assumption that some very wise people—like themselves—need to take decisions out of the hands of lesser people, like the rest of us, and impose those decisions by government fiat.”

“If the battle for civilization comes down to the wimps versus the barbarians, the barbarians are going to win.”

“Before attempting to determine the effect of institutions, it is necessary to consider the inherent circumstances, constraints, and impelling forces at work in the environment within which the institutional mechanisms function.”

“Facts do not "speak for themselves." They speak for or against competing theories. Facts divorced from theory or visions are mere isolated curiosities.”

“Ideas are everywhere, but knowledge is rare.”

“What was special about America was not that it had slavery, which existed all over the world, but that Americans were among the very few peoples who began to question the morality of holding human beings in bondage. That was not yet a majority view among Americans in the 18th century, but it was not even a serious minority view.”

“Too many Republicans treat English as a second language, with Beltway lingo being their native tongue.”

“Maturity is not a matter of age. You have matured when you are no longer concerned with showing how clever you are, and give your full attention to getting the job done right. Many never reach that stage, no matter how old they get.”

“It is unnecessary to attempt any general rule as to where the overall balance lies in comparing the respective costs of knowledge in larger and smaller decision-making units. What is important is to understand that (1) the respective cost advantages of the large and small units differ according to the kind of knowledge involved (general versus specific), that (2) most decisions involve mixtures of the two kinds of knowledge, so that the net advantages of the larger and smaller units vary with the kind of decision, and (3) the effectiveness of hierarchical subordination varies with the extent to which the subordinate unit has knowledge advantages over the higher unit.”

“Time was when people used to brag about how old they were -- and I am old enough to remember it.”

“One of the grand fallacies of our time is that something beneficial should be subsidized.”

“Knowledge may be enjoyed as a speculative diversion, but it is needed for decision making.”

“Ideas, as the raw material from which knowledge is produced, exist in superabundance, but that makes the production of knowledge more difficult rather than easier.”

“As far as party primaries are concerned, both Republican and Democratic Party primaries are dominated by the most zealous voters, whose views may not reflect the views of most members of their own respective parties, much less the views of those who are going to vote in the November general election.
In recent times, each election year has seen each party's nominee selected - or at least subject to veto - by its most extreme wing and then forced to try to move back to the center before the general election.
This can only undermine the public's confidence in the integrity of the candidates of both parties.”

“If I could offer one piece of advice to young people thinking about their future, it would be this: Don't preconceive. Find out what the opportunities are.”

“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.”

“Many of the dangerous things that drivers do are not likely to save them even 10 seconds. When you bet your life against 10 seconds, that is giving bigger odds than you are ever likely to get in Las Vegas.”

“Nothing could be more jolting and discordant with the vision of today's intellectuals than the fact that it was businessmen, devout religious leaders and Western imperialists who together destroyed slavery around the world. And if it doesn't fit their vision, it is the same to them as if it never happened.”

“While decisions are constrained by the kinds of organizations and the kinds of knowledge involved, the Impetus for decisions comes from the internal preferences and external incentives facing those who actually make the decisions.”

“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. Know-it-alls in the school system do not lose one dime or one hour's sleep if their bright ideas turn out to be all wrong, or even disastrous, for the child.”

“The case for the political left looks more plausible on the surface but is harder to keep believing in as you become more experienced.”

“Racism has never done this country any good, and it needs to be fought against, not put under new management for different groups.”

“The key feature of Communist propaganda has been the depiction of people who are more productive as mere exploiters of others.”

“In a world where young blacks, especially, are bombarded with claims that they are being unfairly targeted by police, and where a general attitude of belligerence is being promoted literally in word and song, it is hard not to wonder whether some people's responses to policemen do not have something to do with the policemen's responses to them. Neither the police nor people in any other occupation always do what is right but automatic belligerence is not the answer.”

“Understanding the limitations of human beings is the beginning of wisdom.”

“Before the Iraq war I was quite disturbed by some of the neoconservatives, who were saying things like, "What is the point of being a superpower if you can't do such-and-such, take on these responsibilities?" The point of being a superpower is that people will leave you alone.”

“Letters from teachers continue to confirm the incompetence which they deny. A teacher in Montana says that my criticisms of teachers are "nieve." No, that wasn't a typographical error. He spelled it that way twice.”

“To find anything comparable to crowds' euphoric reactions to Obama, you would have to go back to old newsreels of German crowds in the 1930s, with their adulation of their fuehrer, Adolf Hitler. With hindsight, we can look back on those people with pity, knowing now how many of them would be led to their deaths by the man they idolized.”

“When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can’t help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.”