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 SowellRead
If you have ever seen a four-year-old trying to lord it over a two-year-old, then you know what the basic problem of human nature is - and why government keeps growing larger and ever more intrusive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote illustrates the inherent desire for power and control in human nature, suggesting that governing bodies expand as a reflection of this trait.
Thomas Sowell's quote draws a parallel between the behaviors of young children and the dynamics of human nature in society, emphasizing a natural inclination towards dominance and control. By comparing a four-year-old's dominance over a two-year-old to the growth of government, Sowell suggests that as individuals strive for power, institutions tend to increase in size and reach, often intruding into areas of personal life. This observation serves as a critique of government expansion, highlighting a fundamental aspect of human behavior that manifests itself at both individual and institutional levels.
Themes
Human NaturePowerGovernmentControlIntrusive
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about government policies, I might quote Sowell to highlight concerns about governmental overreach.
More from Thomas Sowell
All quotes →Blacks were not enslaved because they were black but because they were available. Slavery has existed in the world for thousands of years. Whites enslaved other whites in Europe for centuries before the first black was brought to the Western hemisphere. Asians enslaved Europeans. Asians enslaved other Asians. Africans enslaved other Africans, and indeed even today in North Africa, blacks continue to enslave blacks.
Thomas SowellRead
One of the reasons for conspiracy theories is an assumption that people in high places always know what they are doing. When they do something that makes no sense, devious reasons are imagined by conspiracy theorists, when in fact it may be due to plain old ignorance and incompetence.
Thomas SowellRead
You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.
Thomas SowellRead
The real problem, both in discussions of mass shootings and in discussions of gun control, is that too many people are too committed to a vision to allow mere facts to interfere with their beliefs, and the sense of superiority that those beliefs give them.
Thomas SowellRead
Why is history important? Without history, many people have no idea how many of today's half-baked ideas have been tried, again and again - and have repeatedly led to disaster. Most of these ideas are not new. They are just being recycled with re-treaded rhetoric.
Thomas SowellRead
Similar quotes
There is no way to peace. Peace is the way.
A. J. MusteRead
We should give as we would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.
Seneca The YoungerRead
Mr. Lyell's system of geology is just half the truth, and no more. He affirms a great deal that is true, and he denies a great deal which is equally true; which is the general characteristic of all systems not embracing the whole truth.
Samuel Taylor ColeridgeRead
My mother, Abra, had taught me that all people are made from the same dust. When our days here are gone, all men and women enter the same garden.
Alice HoffmanRead
Although a man may have no jurisdiction over the fact of his existence, he can hold supreme command over the meaning of existence for him.
Norman CousinsRead
Man's unconscious... contains all the patterns of life and behaviour inherited from his ancestors, so that every human child, prior to consciousness, is possessed of a potential system of adapted psychic functioning.
Carl JungRead