« All Economics Quotes · Thomas Sowell's Page
Economics Quotes by Thomas Sowell
- You can only confiscate the wealth that exists at a given moment. You cannot confiscate future wealth - and that future wealth is less likely…
- Economics is concerned with what emerges, not what anyone intended.
- Lunches don't get free just because you don't see the prices on the menu. And economists don't get popular by reminding people of that.
- The first rule of economics is that there is an infinite number of desires chasing a finite number of goods, services and resources. The first…
- The dominant orthodoxy in development economics was that Third World countries were trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty that could be broken only by…
- Perhaps the most widespread misunderstanding of economics is that it applies solely to financial transactions. Frequently this leads to statements that "there are noneconomic values"…
- The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of…
- A shortage is a sign that somebody is keeping the price artificially lower than it would be if supply and demand were allowed to operate…
- All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting 'the rich' to pay 'their fair share' is part of a big charade. This is not…
- Economics is a study of cause-and-effect relationships in an economy. It's purpose is to discern the consequences of various ways of allocating resources which have…
- Despite a voluminous and often fervent literature on "income distribution," the cold fact is that most income is not distributed: It is earned.
- Leaving prices out of the picture is probably the source of more fallacies in economics than any other single misconception.
More Economics Quotes
- Many individuals are doing what they can. But real success can only come if there is a change in our societies and… — David Attenborough
- All of the problems we're facing with debt are manmade problems. We created them. It's called fantasy economics. Fantasy economics only works… — Michele Bachmann
- Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of… — Frederic Bastiat
- Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. — Frederic Bastiat
- They will come to learn in the end, at their own expense, that it is better to endure competition for rich customers… — Frederic Bastiat
- Often the masses are plundered and do not know it. — Frederic Bastiat
- I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run… — Glenn Beck
- I served seven years as the chair of the Princeton economics department where I had responsibility for major policy decisions, such as… — Ben Bernanke
- Ignorance is an evil weed, which dictators may cultivate among their dupes, but which no democracy can afford among its citizens. — William Beveridge
- Corporation: An ingenious device for obtaining profit without individual responsibility. — Ambrose Bierce
- And I know this happens because I took economics, and I'd explain it to ya, but I flunked that course. Not my… — Lewis Black
- Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are. — Bertolt Brecht