--- title: "6 Famines Quotes By Amartya Sen" description: "6 Famines quotes by Amartya Sen. Plus more from Amartya Sen and more Famines sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/amartya-sen-2518_bad-thing_if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-publi_1146937.png" --- > [If the government is vulnerable to public opinion, then famines are a dreadfully bad thing to have. You can’t win many elections…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-public-opinion-then-famines-are-a/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/amartya-sen-2518_bad-thing_if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-publi_1146937.png) > [Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/famines-are-easy-to-prevent-if-there-is-a-serious-effort-to-do-so-and/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fe/amartya-sen-2518_active_famines-are-easy-to-prevent-if-there-is_1481086.jpg) > [From the mid-1970s, I also started work on the causation and prevention of famines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/from-the-mid-1970s-i-also-started-work-on-the-causation-and/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52e/amartya-sen-2518_causation_from-the-mid-1970s-i-also-started-work-o_2302783.png) > [I attempted to see famines as broad "economic" problems (concentrating on how people can buy food, or otherwise get entitled to it),…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/i-attempted-to-see-famines-as-broad-economic-problems-concentrating/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1db/amartya-sen-2518_broads_i-attempted-to-see-famines-as-broad-econ_2429148.png) > [You can’t prevent undernourishment so easily, but famines you can stop with half an effort. Then the question was why don’t the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/you-can-t-prevent-undernourishment-so-easily-but-famines-you-can-stop/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/amartya-sen-2518_effort_you-can-t-prevent-undernourishment-so-ea_2634010.jpg) > [Famines occur under a colonial administration, like the British Raj in India or for that matter in Ireland, or under military dictators…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/famines-occur-under-a-colonial-administration-like-the-british-raj-in/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/503/amartya-sen-2518_administration_famines-occur-under-a-colonial-administr_3147634.jpg) ## More by Amartya Sen > [Capability is just a concept of what is it we're looking at. Now how far we can go along that and what new capabilities…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/capability-is-just-a-concept-of-what-is-it-we-re-looking-at-now-how/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [Human life consists of doing certain things ... to take part in the life of the community; to be able to talk about subjects…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/human-life-consists-of-doing-certain-things-to-take-part-in-the-life/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/where-the-mind-is-without-fear-and-the-head-is-held-high-where/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [Violence is fomented by the imposition of singular and belligerent identities on gullible people, championed by proficient artisans of terror.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/violence-is-fomented-by-the-imposition-of-singular-and-belligerent/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [I think the whole progress over the last two or three millennia has been entirely dependent on ideas and techniques and commodities and people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/i-think-the-whole-progress-over-the-last-two-or-three-millennia-has/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/no-famine-has-ever-taken-place-in-the-history-of-the-world-in-a/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [To say that certainly America was very lucky to get a large amount of land, and the native Indians were extremely unlucky to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/to-say-that-certainly-america-was-very-lucky-to-get-a-large-amount-of/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [The lack of economic freedom could be a very major reason for loss of liberty, liberty of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/the-lack-of-economic-freedom-could-be-a-very-major-reason-for-loss-of/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [We need to ask the moral questions: Do I have a right to be rich? And do I have a right to be content…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/we-need-to-ask-the-moral-questions-do-i-have-a-right-to-be-rich-and/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [“He wrote extensively on how schools should be made more attractive to boys and girls and thus more productive. His own co-educational school at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/he-wrote-extensively-on-how-schools-should-be-made-more-attractive-to/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [One has to be realistic. One’s concern for equity and justice in the world must not carry one into the alien territory of unreasoned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/one-has-to-be-realistic-one-s-concern-for-equity-and-justice-in-the/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [While I am interested both in economics and in philosophy, the union of my interests in the two fields far exceeds their intersection.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/while-i-am-interested-both-in-economics-and-in-philosophy-the-union/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [I was born in a University campus and seem to have lived all my life in one campus or another.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/i-was-born-in-a-university-campus-and-seem-to-have-lived-all-my-life/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [If jobs are important, education is important.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/if-jobs-are-important-education-is-important/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) > [Thailand's economic development was driven by educational expansion. That has been a very dramatic factor, and South Asia had been pretty miserable in not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/thailand-s-economic-development-was-driven-by-educational-expansion/) [Amartya Sen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amartya-sen/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/amartya-sen/#itemlist", "name": "6 Famines Quotes By Amartya Sen", "numberOfItems": 6, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If the government is vulnerable to public opinion, then famines are a dreadfully bad thing to have. You can’t win many elections after a famine, and you don’t like being criticized by newspapers, opposition parties in parliament, and so on. Democracy gives the government an immediate political incentive to act.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Amartya Sen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-public-opinion-then-famines-are-a/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/amartya-sen-2518_bad-thing_if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-publi_1146937.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/amartya-sen-2518_bad-thing_if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-publi_1146937.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/amartya-sen-2518_bad-thing_if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-publi_1146937.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“If the government is vulnerable to public opinion, then famines are a dreadfully bad thing to have. You…” — Amartya Sen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticisms from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort. Not surprisingly, while India continued to have famines under British rule right up to independence... they disappeared suddenly with the establishment of a multiparty democracy and... a free press and an active political opposition constitute the best early-warning system a country threaten by famines can have.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Amartya Sen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/famines-are-easy-to-prevent-if-there-is-a-serious-effort-to-do-so-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fe/amartya-sen-2518_active_famines-are-easy-to-prevent-if-there-is_1481086.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fe/amartya-sen-2518_active_famines-are-easy-to-prevent-if-there-is_1481086.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/7fe/amartya-sen-2518_active_famines-are-easy-to-prevent-if-there-is_1481086.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing…” — Amartya Sen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "From the mid-1970s, I also started work on the causation and prevention of famines.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Amartya Sen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/from-the-mid-1970s-i-also-started-work-on-the-causation-and/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52e/amartya-sen-2518_causation_from-the-mid-1970s-i-also-started-work-o_2302783.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52e/amartya-sen-2518_causation_from-the-mid-1970s-i-also-started-work-o_2302783.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52e/amartya-sen-2518_causation_from-the-mid-1970s-i-also-started-work-o_2302783.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“From the mid-1970s, I also started work on the causation and prevention of famines.” — Amartya Sen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "I attempted to see famines as broad \"economic\" problems (concentrating on how people can buy food, or otherwise get entitled to it), rather than in terms of the grossly undifferentiated picture of aggregate food supply for the economy as a whole.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Amartya Sen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/i-attempted-to-see-famines-as-broad-economic-problems-concentrating/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1db/amartya-sen-2518_broads_i-attempted-to-see-famines-as-broad-econ_2429148.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1db/amartya-sen-2518_broads_i-attempted-to-see-famines-as-broad-econ_2429148.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1db/amartya-sen-2518_broads_i-attempted-to-see-famines-as-broad-econ_2429148.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“I attempted to see famines as broad \"economic\" problems (concentrating on how people can buy food, or…” — Amartya Sen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "You can’t prevent undernourishment so easily, but famines you can stop with half an effort. Then the question was why don’t the governments stop them?", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Amartya Sen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/you-can-t-prevent-undernourishment-so-easily-but-famines-you-can-stop/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/amartya-sen-2518_effort_you-can-t-prevent-undernourishment-so-ea_2634010.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/amartya-sen-2518_effort_you-can-t-prevent-undernourishment-so-ea_2634010.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dce/amartya-sen-2518_effort_you-can-t-prevent-undernourishment-so-ea_2634010.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You can’t prevent undernourishment so easily, but famines you can stop with half an effort. Then the…” — Amartya Sen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Famines occur under a colonial administration, like the British Raj in India or for that matter in Ireland, or under military dictators in one country after another, like Somalia and Ethiopia, or in one-party states like the Soviet Union and China.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Amartya Sen" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amartya-sen/famines-occur-under-a-colonial-administration-like-the-british-raj-in/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/503/amartya-sen-2518_administration_famines-occur-under-a-colonial-administr_3147634.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/503/amartya-sen-2518_administration_famines-occur-under-a-colonial-administr_3147634.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/503/amartya-sen-2518_administration_famines-occur-under-a-colonial-administr_3147634.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Famines occur under a colonial administration, like the British Raj in India or for that matter in Ireland…” — Amartya Sen", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } } ] }, { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/amartya-sen/#webpage", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/amartya-sen/", "name": "Famines Quotes by Amartya Sen", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/amartya-sen/#itemlist" }, "primaryImageOfPage": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/17b/amartya-sen-2518_bad-thing_if-the-government-is-vulnerable-to-publi_1146937.png" }, "description": "6 Famines quotes by Amartya Sen. Plus more from Amartya Sen and more Famines sayings from other authors.", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/amartya-sen/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/amartya-sen/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Topics", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Famines", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "Amartya Sen", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/famines/amartya-sen/" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```