Thomas Sowell Quotes

We can't keep measuring success by how much money are we throw at programs. We have to measure success as, 'Is it working?'

The American people demand results, not rhetoric, especially when it comes to national security issues.

But the other notion is, we also believe that those folks closest on the ground that we're holding accountable for the results can decide, and ought to evaluate which programs get results.

Thoughts are but dreams till their effects are tried.

One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.

Sometimes the best, and only effective, way to kill an idea is to put it into practice.

Theories are patterns without value. What counts is action.

The long and short of it is, we need more rigor in all kinds of programs.

My top priority will be to secure maximum value for money in aid through greater transparency, rigorous independent evaluation and an unremitting focus on results.

A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.

Spending a few hundred million dollars more a year on evaluations could save tens of billions of dollars by teaching us which programs work and generating lessons to improve programs that don’t

Cost effectiveness and effectiveness are not always the same thing in government.

He [Theodore Roosevelt] acted upon the maxim that half a loaf is better than no bread. I believe that half a loaf is fatal whenever it is accepted at the sacrifice of the basic principle sought to be attained.... A half-way measure never fairly tests the principle and many utterly discredit it.

We're thinking of creating a board of experts across the sectors of industry, to identify successful programs and to make recommendations about programs that are working and aren't working.

The success of a particular policy prescription is always a gamble.

What you do has far greater impact than what you say.

Past violence is detrimental to our present action, and it is not in the name of principles that we denounce it, but in the name of efficiency.

The fact of the matter is actions speak louder than words.

Advice is judged by results, not by intentions.

You are responsible for the predictable consequences of your actions.

The difference between a policy and a crusade is that a policy is judged by its results, while a crusade is judged by how good it makes its crusaders feel.

What can I contribute that will significantly affect the performance and the results of the institution I serve?

The value of actions lies in their timing.

Actions lie louder than words.

You cannot expect to get the effect when you neglect to create the cause.