108 Quotes by Walter E. Williams

True rights, such as those in our Constitution, or those considered to be natural or human rights, exist simultaneously among people. That means exercise of a right by one person does not diminish those held by another.

Social Security is unsustainable because it is not meeting the first order condition of a Ponzi scheme, namely expanding the pool of suckers.

Reduced employment opportunities is one effect of minimum wage legislation. The minimum wage law has imposed incalculable harm on the disadvantaged members of our society. The only moral thing to do is to repeal it.

Do-gooders fail to realize that most good is not done in the name of good but done in the name of self-interest.

As American education and intelligence becomes replaced by feelings and emotion, not seeing the forest for the trees has become a major problem.

One of the things that economics brings to the analysis is explicit recognition that people will not engage in activities – including racial discrimination – no matter what the cost.

Philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe explained that “no one is as hopelessly enslaved as the person who thinks he’s free.” That’s becoming an apt description for Americans who are oblivious to – or ignorant of – the liberties we’ve lost.

Tariff policy beneficiaries are always visible, but its victims are mostly invisible. Politicians love this. The reason is simple: The beneficiaries know for whom to cast their ballots, and the victims don’t know whom to blame for their calamity.

Discrimination is simply the act of choice. Scarcity requires us to choose; scarcity is the cause of discrimination!