The Words of Thomas Sowell
verified quotes and counting
Searchable by topic, source, or keyword.
+1 added in the last 30 days
Not sure where to start? Surprise me →
Quote of the Day
In an increasingly global economy, Europeans and Americans might be very hesitant to buy telecommunications equipment made halfway around the world in South Korea. But, once the Samsung brand acquired a track record, people in Berlin or Chicago would just as soon buy Samsung products as buy competing products manufactured down the street. Asian companies in general have only in relatively recent history begun investing much time and money in making their brand names widely known, and still they spend less on this than other multinational companies. However, brand names like Toyota, Honda, and Nikon are recognized around the world, and the Cathay Pacific airline and the Shangri-La hotel chain are also becoming better known internationally. Brand names are not guarantees. But they do reduce the range of uncertainty. If a hotel sign says Ritz-Carlton, chances are you will not have to worry about whether the bed sheets in your room were changed since the last person slept there. Even if you stop at a dingy and run-down little store in a strange town, you are not afraid to drink a soda they sell you, if it is a bottle or can of Coca-Cola or Seven Up. Imagine, however, if the owner of this unsavory little place mixed you a soda at his own soda fountain. Would you have the same confidence in drinking it?
— Basic Economics (2000), p. 1043-1044
ReadSowell.com
Showing 20 of 258 quotes
Many people are trying to insulate young people from adversity, insulate them from the things that give them strength.
— Free To Choose: Common Sense in a Senseless World (doc) (Riley) (2021)
ReadSowell.com
These quotes are just the surface.
The real conversations happen in the emails.
When we have a system where children are fed in schools and other basic responsibilities are also lifted from the shoulders of their parents, why should we be surprised that the sense of parental responsibility seems to be eroding? We are not surprised when a couch potato doesn’t have the kind of muscles found on someone who exercises. Our society is increasingly turning out moral couch potatoes.
— The Thomas Sowell Reader (2011), § BOOMERS AND BOOMERANGS
ReadSowell.com
Did you know?
Every quote on this site is sourced back to the original book, article, video, or interview.
Keep it free.
Sign the wall →Know a great Sowell quote we're missing? Send it in and get credited when it's published.