Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
Sowell has an amazing ability to communicate timeless truths succinctly. Economics is often referred to as “the dismal science,” but few have done more in history to help its reputation than Thomas Sowell. The 92-year-old economist has authored more than 45 books, including bestsellers such as Basic Economics, Black Rednecks and White Liberals, and Economic … Read more
How else to explain the surge in gender dysphoria among American youth? Since 2017, cases of gender dysphoria among 6-year-olds to 17-year-olds have increased by over 170 percent. How permanent will the rather sudden embrace of transgenderism be? No one knows. But the longer it lasts, the more powerful the transgender movement will become. And … Read more
A walk through some of the legendary economist’s most quotable lines. Few social scientists are able to distill their thoughts into such punchy lines as Thomas Sowell, the great economist whose ideas are celebrated in Jason L. Riley’s inspiring book Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell. Among Sowell’s many quotable remarks: “I’ve studiously avoided entanglements … Read more
Angelo Codevilla, who died recently, was an eloquent essayist. A favorite of many people is his 2010 essay on America’s Ruling Class. while most of the voters who call themselves Democrats say that Democratic officials represent them well, only a fourth of the voters who identify themselves as Republicans tell pollsters that Republican officeholders represent … Read more
Scott Alexander writes, In this model, we end up with Woke Capital because Apple and Amazon are run by programmers, by managers who used to be programmers, and by MBA finance people – and all of those groups are highly educated and therefore liberal. I am pretty sure that the “woke” in Woke Capital comes … Read more
In the old days, when there was less education and discussion, perhaps it was possible to get on with a very few simple ideas about God. But it is not so now. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas … Read more
Pay close attention to your impartial spectator. Note that this advice is quite different from that clichéd piece of graduation-day advice to “Go out and change the world.” Please, don’t go out and change the world. Seriously, please don’t. At least, please don’t try to change the world in the way that such a challenge … Read more
Modern masters of science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They began with the fact of sin — a fact as practical as potatoes. Whether or not man could be washed in miraculous waters, there was … Read more
Everyone is a “progressive” by his own lights. That the anointed believe that this label distinguishes themselves from other people is one of a number of symptoms of their narcissism. From page 95 of Thomas Sowell’s great 1995 work, “The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy” Related PostsThe DSA Comes … Read more
You hold that your heretics and sceptics have helped the world forward and handed on a lamp of progress. I deny it. Nothing is plainer from real history than that each of your heretics invented a complete cosmos of his own which the next heretic smashed entirely to pieces. Who knows now exactly what Nestorius … Read more
I have not lost my ideals in the least, my faith in fundamentals is exactly what it always was. What I have lost is my old childlike faith in practical politics. I am still as much concerned as ever about the Battle of Armageddon; but I am not so much concerned about the General Election. … Read more
Whatever makes men feel old is mean — an empire or a skin-flint shop. Whatever makes men feel young is great — a great war or a love-story. And in the darkest of the books of God there is written a truth that is also a riddle. It is of the new things that men … Read more
It is not by any means self-evident upon the face of it that an institution like the liberty of speech is right or just. It is not natural or obvious to let a man utter follies and abominations which you believe to be bad for mankind any more than it is natural or obvious to … Read more
We seem to be getting closer and closer to a situation where nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did. Thomas Sowell Related PostsAfrica’s “Bigger Slave Problem” Invisible men The Unheavenly City at Fifty Malice is ever complex and paranoid. Thomas Sowell on White Liberals
Men and women want to play at being a creator. They want to give me existence in their opinion, but this existence that they want to give me is nothingness. Bishop Jacques-Benigne Bossuet Five Steps to Begin Overcoming Bitterness “Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it.” George Bernard Shaw … Read more
There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less. G.K. Chesterton Related PostsBless that Driver! Forgiveness Susan Ertz – Millions long for immortality St. Thomas More The Legacy of Archbishop Weakland Is Not ‘Complex’ But Sinister
the Holy Spirit of discipline flees deceit and withdraws from senseless counsels Wisdom 1:5 Similar to “Never wrestle with pigs.“ Related PostsBe Uncle Sam’s Good Servant But God’s First Father Martin meets the Pope: a scandal, but not a surprise 1 Corinthians 13:5 Beginning again What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Never wrestle with pigs. You both get dirty and the pig likes it. George Bernard Shaw Related PostsCatholicism is counter cultural Multinational Meat Farms Could Be Making Us Sick Five Steps to Begin Overcoming Bitterness Before tearing things down…. Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength- carrying two days at once.
The Hockey Stick of Human Prosperity (MRU – Don Boudreaux
May God be with you and bless you. May you see your children’s children. May you be poor in misfortune, rich in blessings. May you know nothing but happiness. From this day forward. Related PostsFamily Enrichment Ohio Murder, Divorce, and Rock & Roll: The True History of the 1960s Out with the Jetta, in with … Read more
“I find absolutely no grounds for optimism, and I have every reason for hope.” Fr. Paul Mankowski (quoting Wilfrid Sheed) The Life And Death Of Paul Mankowski Related PostsThe Coming Christian Reckoning The Pope’s statement on the Durbin award: wrong, and irrelevant Silent and smiling, Pope offers an opening to ‘transgender’ advocates Discouragement The Beginning … Read more
The word “shyster” is one of the most objectionable words around to denote a lawyer. There are others, to be sure—as I’ve documented in Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage [3d ed. 2011], in an entry titled “Lawyers, Derogatory Names for”—but shyster is exceedingly pejorative. For many years, its derivation has seemed uncertain. Whenever that happens … Read more
The redoubtable Thomas Sowell also is an inspiration. He tweeted this morsel of clarity [June 11, 2020]: “Have we reached the ultimate stage of absurdity where some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, while other people are not held responsible for what they themselves are doing today?” Thomas Sowell … Read more
You must first have peace in your own soul before you can make peace between other people. Peaceable people accomplish more good than learned people do. Those who are passionate often can turn good into evil and readily believe the worst. But those who are honest and peaceful turn all things to good and are … Read more