If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today
Written byThomas Sowellborn 1930 · American economist and syndicated columnist
Sowell wrote it in his syndicated “Random thoughts on the passing scene” column. The Sun-Sentinel printed it on November 28, 1998. But the original says “a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago,” not 60 and 30. The viral numbers are a later change to his wording.
“If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today.” Thomas Sowell, Creators Syndicate column, Sun-Sentinel, November 28, 1998
Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool
In context
Evoking the world of Thomas Sowell — American economist, economic historian & social theorist. Theme: "If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Minimalist
Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.
Provenance
The 1998 column
Column
A Few Assorted Thoughts About Sex, Lies And Human Race
Printed in
Sun-Sentinel, November 28, 1998 (Creators Syndicate)
Format
“Random thoughts on the passing scene”: a list of unrelated one-liners
Original numbers
“a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago”
Random thoughts on the passing scene: … If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today. A Washington Post writer declares, “the incomes of most American households have remained stubbornly flat over the past three decades.” Liberals have remained stubbornly blind to facts over the same period…
Sowell, 1998
Transcribed from an Internet Archive copy of the Sun-Sentinel page. The headline was printed with the column there. The sentence is one item in a list of unrelated remarks.
Nov. 28, 1998. The sentence appears, with “50 years ago” and “25 years ago,” in Sowell’s Creators Syndicate “Random thoughts on the passing scene” column in the Sun-Sentinel ↗.
Wikiquote lists the 50/25 wording on its Thomas Sowell page ↗ and cites “Creators Syndicate, November 28, 1998.”
Dec. 27, 2016. A Townhall list published to mark Sowell’s retirement prints the altered numbers: “a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago” (Townhall ↗).
Feb. 2021. WORLD’s review of a documentary about Sowell quotes the original 50/25 figures (WORLD ↗).
The line comes from a newspaper column published in 1998, long after the 1931 cutoff, so it is still under copyright, held by Sowell and/or his syndicate (Creators Syndicate column, Nov. 28, 1998 ↗). Quoting one sentence with credit is ordinary commentary use.
Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.
Fact-check
Right author, wrong numbers
No one else is credited with this line, and it is genuinely Sowell’s. What drifted is the arithmetic. The most widely shared version changes his “50 years ago” and “25 years ago” to 60 and 30.
✕
The numbersThe “60 years ago … 30 years ago” version Altered wording
This version appears, for example, in Townhall’s December 2016 list of Sowell quotes (Townhall ↗). Sowell’s 1998 column reads “a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago” (Sun-Sentinel ↗). We found no Sowell source that uses 60 and 30. No source we found says who changed the figures.
✓Sowell wrote: “If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today.” It comes from his Creators Syndicate column, as printed in the Sun-Sentinel, November 28, 1998 ↗.
Context
A one-liner in a list
The sentence was not a speech or a book thesis. It is one entry in Sowell’s recurring “Random thoughts on the passing scene” column, a string of short, unrelated remarks. In the same 1998 column it sits between notes on late-talking children and household-income statistics. Nearby are quips about Bill Clinton, school choice and term limits.
Because the time spans are relative (“years ago”), the sentence is easy to “update” as it gets passed around. That may explain how 60 and 30 replaced 50 and 25, but this is our own observation; no source we found documents it. Anyone quoting Sowell exactly should use the 1998 figures.
a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today
What the specialist sources say
We found no Quote Investigator article on this line; its Thomas Sowell tag ↗ lists two articles, both on other quotations.
Wikiquote lists the line under Sowell’s own quotations, with the 50/25 wording and a Creators Syndicate citation dated November 28, 1998 (Wikiquote ↗).
Explore
Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
born 1930 · American economist, economic historian & social theorist
Thomas Sowell (born June 30, 1930) is an American economist, economic historian and social theorist, and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. Through his books and a widely syndicated newspaper column he became one of the best-known voices of American conservatism. He received the National Humanities Medal in 2002.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Primary source
Thomas Sowell, “A Few Assorted Thoughts About Sex, Lies And Human Race,” Sun-Sentinel, November 28, 1998 (Creators Syndicate column, “Random thoughts on the passing scene”). Original wording: “a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today.”
This verification page
Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today’?” Last verified 2 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-you-have-always-believed-that-everyone-should-play-by/