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High tax rates that people don't actually pay do not bring the government as much revenue as lower tax rates that they do pay.
Thomas Sowell
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Although much of the media have their antennae out to pick up anything that might be construed as racism against blacks, they resolutely ignore even the most blatant racism by blacks against others.
Thomas Sowell
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Intellectuals may like to think of themselves as people who "speak truth to power" but too often they are people who speak lies to gain power.
Thomas Sowell
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Having spent years ruining the housing markets with their interference, leading to a housing meltdown that has taken the whole economy down with it, politicians have now moved on into micro-managing automobile companies and medical care. They are not going to stop unless they get stopped. And that is not going to happen until the voters recognize the fact that political rhetoric is no substitute for competence.
Thomas Sowell
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If you want to get each individual's honest opinion, you don't want that opinion to be influenced by others who are present, much less allow a group to coordinate what they are going to say.
Thomas Sowell
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...Politics is not about facts. It is about what politicians can get people to believe.
Thomas Sowell
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A lot of what is called 'public service' consists of making hoops for other people to jump through. It is a great career for those who cannot feel fulfilled unless they are telling other people what to do.
Thomas Sowell
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Students are often in no position to judge 'relevance' until long after the fact.
Thomas Sowell
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Sometimes it seems as if I have spent the first half of my life refusing to let white people define me and the second half refusing to let black people define me.
Thomas Sowell
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Benedict Arnold was a war hero, wounded in battle--before he turned against his country. Hitler was likewise a decorated and wounded veteran of the First World War. Being a war hero is not a lifetime...exemption...from responsibility for what you do thereafter.
Thomas Sowell
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Rhetoric is no substitute for reality.
Thomas Sowell
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Nobody would put as little thought and effort into buying an automobile as they put into deciding who to elect as President of the United States.
Thomas Sowell
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The most politically painless way to hand out goodies, without taking responsibility for their costs, is to pass a law saying that somebody else must provide those goodies at their expense, while the politicians take credit for generosity and compassion.
Thomas Sowell
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The law of diminishing returns means that even the most beneficial prinicple will become harmful if carried far enough.
Thomas Sowell
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Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality.
Thomas Sowell
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The grand delusion of contemporary liberals is that they have both the right and the ability to move their fellow creatures around like blocks of wood - and that the end results will be no different than if people had voluntarily chosen the same action
Thomas Sowell
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If you truly believe in the brotherhood of man, then you must believe that blacks are just as capable of being racists as whites are.
Thomas Sowell
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Our economic problems worry me much less than our political solutions, which have a far worse track record.
Thomas Sowell
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All statements are true, if you are free to redefine their terms.
Thomas Sowell
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The biggest difference between people is between those who are trying to do the right thing - whether or not they succeed - and those for whom the only question is how much they can get away with.
Thomas Sowell
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There are only two economists in Congress and hundreds of lawyers. Does that explain why the government is in such a mess?
Thomas Sowell
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A moral monopoly is the antithesis of a marketplace of ideas.
Thomas Sowell
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Compassion is the use of public funds to buy votes
Thomas Sowell
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Anyone who does not understand the utter cynicism of politics does not understand politics.
Thomas Sowell
