Famous quotes by Economists

Economists

Economists study how people, markets, and institutions allocate resources, and their words often illuminate choices that shape everyday life. Voices from across schools of thought offer insights on growth, inequality, incentives, policy, and human behavior. Whether you're curious about the forces behind prices or the tradeoffs within public decisions, these quotations aim to clarify, challenge, and inspire. From pragmatic advice to theoretical reflections, they capture debates that continue to evolve, while remaining accessible to readers with any level of familiarity with economics.

"The problem isn't that Johnny can't read. The problem isn't even that Johnny can't think. The problem is that Johnny doesn't know what thinking is; he confuses it with feeling"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand"

Milton Friedman, Economist

"Infinite growth of material consumption in a finite world is an impossibility"

E. F. Schumacher, Economist

"If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"When goods do not cross borders, soldiers will"

Frederic Bastiat, Economist

"Another is, if you take money out of your left pocket and put it in your right pocket, you're no richer"

Merton Miller, Economist

"The printing press is either the greatest blessing or the greatest curse of modern times, sometimes one forgets which it is"

E. F. Schumacher, Economist

"People who enjoy meetings should not be in charge of anything"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"The great are only great because we are on our knees. Let us rise!"

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Economist

"Stopping illegal immigration would mean that wages would have to rise to a level where Americans would want the jobs currently taken by illegal aliens"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"Each new generation born is in effect an invasion of civilization by little barbarians, who must be civilized before it is too late"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"'Emergencies' have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have been eroded"

Friedrich August von Hayek, Economist

"All money is a matter of belief"

Adam Smith, Economist

Small: Adam Smith

"There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose"

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist

"I find that the three major administrative problems on a campus are sex for the students, athletics for the alumni and parking for the faculty"

Clark Kerr, Economist

"There are few things more dishonorable than misleading the young"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"Inflation is the one form of taxation that can be imposed without legislation"

Milton Friedman, Economist

"The process by which banks create money is so simple that the mind is repelled"

John Kenneth Galbraith, Economist

"I do not think it is an exaggeration to say history is largely a history of inflation, usually inflations engineered by governments for the gain of governments"

Friedrich August von Hayek, Economist

"I guess I should warn you, if I turn out to be particularly clear, you've probably misunderstood what I've said"

Alan Greenspan, Economist

"Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"No complaint... is more common than that of a scarcity of money"

Adam Smith, Economist

Small: Adam Smith

"The German future lies in the hands of our Fuehrer"

Hjalmar Schacht, Economist

Small: Hjalmar Schacht

"Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face"

Thomas Sowell, Economist

Small: Thomas Sowell

"Defense is superior to opulence"

Adam Smith, Economist

Small: Adam Smith

"Virtue is more to be feared than vice, because its excesses are not subject to the regulation of conscience"

Adam Smith, Economist

Small: Adam Smith

"The real tragedy of the poor is the poverty of their aspirations"

Adam Smith, Economist

Small: Adam Smith

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