The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics
These are the opening lines of Sowell’s essay “Student Loans,” collected in Is Reality Optional? and Other Essays (Hoover Institution Press, 1993). Wikiquote lists the line under that book, and licensed textbook reprints of the essay confirm the exact wording.
“The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics” Thomas Sowell, "Student Loans," Is Reality Optional? and Other Essays (Hoover Institution Press, 1993)
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In context
Evoking the world of Thomas Sowell — American economist, economic historian & Hoover Institution senior fellow. Theme: "The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics". 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.
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Provenance
The source
Work
Is Reality Optional? and Other Essays
Essay
“Student Loans” (the line opens the essay)
Published
Hoover Institution Press, Stanford, 1993
Reprinted
The Brief Bedford Reader, 6th ed. (Bedford, 1997); The Little, Brown Handbook editions
Student Loans
The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.
This is the essay’s opening, as it appears in licensed textbook reprints, searchable through Open Library’s full-text search ↗. The 1993 book itself is not available to read online.
Wikiquote ↗ lists the line, word for word, under Is Reality Optional? (1993), credited to the essay “Student Loans.”
The Open Library record ↗ confirms the book: Is Reality Optional? and Other Essays, by Thomas Sowell, Hoover Institution Press, 1993.
The Bedford Reader (1997) ↗ reprints “Student Loans” with the headnote “In this essay from Is Reality Optional? (1993), a collection of his columns and essays”. Textbook credit lines ↗ read “Student Loans” from Is Reality Optional? by Thomas Sowell, “Copyright 1993.”
In Little, Brown Handbook reprints ↗, the essay opens “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: There is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it,” followed by the politics sentence.
The line comes from Is Reality Optional? and Other Essays, first published by Hoover Institution Press in 1993. Under US rules, a work published in 1931 or later by an identifiable author is still in copyright. Textbook reprints carry a “Copyright 1993” credit and say the essay is reprinted with permission. Quoting these two sentences with credit is ordinary fair use, but the essay itself is not public domain.
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
Common mix-ups
The attribution is sound: Sowell wrote this. What drifts is the wording and the citation. Quote lists usually give it with no source, and some quietly trim it.
~
Wording“…never enough of anything to satisfy all those who want it” Trimmed
Popular lists such as FEE’s “30 Priceless Quotes” ↗ drop the word “fully.” The reprinted essay reads “never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it.”
✕
CitationUnsourced quote collections and later anthologies No source given
Most quote sites give the line with no work at all, or with the book title only. Its home is the essay “Student Loans” in Is Reality Optional? (1993), as Wikiquote ↗ records. Later compilations and business-quotation books repeat it, but they are secondary sources, not the origin.
✓Genuine Thomas Sowell: the opening of “Student Loans,” in Is Reality Optional? and Other Essays (Hoover Institution Press, 1993). See the Open Library record ↗.
Context
Why it stuck
Sowell used the line to open an essay on student loans. It sets up his argument as a clash between the economist’s trade-offs and the politician’s promises. The first sentence restates the textbook definition of scarcity. The second turns it into a jab at politics. That pairing is why the line travels so well on its own.
The essay also had a long second life as a classroom reading. Composition textbooks such as The Brief Bedford Reader (1997) ↗ and many editions of The Little, Brown Handbook reprinted “Student Loans” for students to analyze. That exposure probably helped make the opening lines one of Sowell’s best-known quotations.
The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.
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Filed under
More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.
Born 1930 · American economist, economic historian & Hoover Institution senior fellow
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, economic historian and social theorist, and a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Besides his books on economics, race and education, he wrote decades of syndicated columns. Many of them were collected in essay volumes such as Is Reality Optional? (1993). He received the National Humanities Medal in 2002.
For writers & researchers
Cite this
Primary source
Thomas Sowell, “Student Loans,” in Is Reality Optional? and Other Essays (Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1993).
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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics’?” Last verified 3 Nov 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/the-first-lesson-of-economics-is-scarcity-there-is-never/