Amartya Sen Quotes

Poverty is not just a lack of money; it is not having the capability to realize one's full potential as a human being

Economic growth without investment in human development is unsustainable - and unethical.

The success of a society is to be evaluated primarily by the freedoms that members of the society enjoy.

Poverty is the deprivation of opportunity.

I believe that virtually all the problems in the world come from inequality of one kind or another.

Empowering women is key to building a future we want

Starvation is the characteristic of some people not having enough food to eat. It is not the characteristic of there being not enough food to eat.

Freedoms are not only the primary ends of development, they are also among its principal means.

Progress is more plausibly judged by the reduction of deprivation than by the further enrichment of the opulent

Human ordeals thrive on ignorance. To understand a problem with clarity is already half way towards solving it.

No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.

Imparting education not only enlightens the receiver, but also broadens the giver - the teachers, the parents, the friends.

A society can be Pareto optimal and still perfectly disgusting.

Economics, as it has emerged, can be made more productive by paying greater and more explicit attention to the ethical considerations that shape human behaviour and judgment.

Sometimes the lack of substantive freedoms relates directly to economic poverty

[Globalization] has enriched the world scientifically and culturally and benefited many people economically as well.

There are Muslims of all kinds. The idea of closing them into a single identity is wrong.

the identity of an individual is essentially a function of her choices, rather than the discovery of an immutable attribute

Human life depends not only on income but also on social opportunities, [for example] what the state does for educating.

No substantial famine has ever occurred in a democratic country - no matter how poor.

While I am interested both in economics and in philosophy, the union of my interests in the two fields far exceeds their intersection.

I really do believe that education, despite this massive potential in transforming human lives, has not received the kind of attention that people should have given to it.

Violence is fomented by the imposition of singular and belligerent identities on gullible people, championed by proficient artisans of terror.

A defeated argument that refuses to be obliterated can remain very alive.

Gender inequality is not one problem, it's a collection of problems.

You have to be interested in inequality. The issue of inequality and that of poverty are not separable.

It is also very engaging - and a delight - to go back to Bangladesh as often as I can, which is not only my old home, but also where some of my closest friends and collaborators live and work.

Anything that increases the voice of young women tends therefore to reduce the fertility rate.

It is important to reclaim for humanity the ground that has been taken from it by various arbitrarily narrow formulations of the demands of rationality

The lack of economic freedom could be a very major reason for loss of liberty, liberty of life.

People's identities as Indians, as Asians, or as members of the human race, seemed to give way - quite suddenly - to sectarian identification with Hindu, Muslim, or Sikh communities.

Democracy is a universal value

Unceasing change turns the wheel of life, and so reality is shown in all it's many forms. Dwell peacefully as change itself liberates all suffering sentient beings and brings them great joy.

There are few subjects that match the social significance of women's education in the contemporary world.

Your voice is much more articulate and people listen to you if you've been to school. In family decisions, not surprisingly, the biggest impact in reducing fertility is girls' education.

I think that so many of our abilities to do things depend on interaction with each other.

The governments and the hard-headed military establishment and the general conservative part of America have never taken much interest in democracy, anyway.

There is considerable evidence that women's education and literacy tend to reduce the mortality rates of children

If a theory of justice is to guide reasoned choice of policies, strategies or institutions, then the identification of fully just social arrangements is neither necessary nor sufficient.

Poverty is not really as much of an obstacle to educational expansion as it's sometimes made out to be.

But the idea that I should be a teacher and a researcher of some sort did not vary over the years.

One has to be realistic. One’s concern for equity and justice in the world must not carry one into the alien territory of unreasoned belief. That’s very important.

Development cannot really be so centered only on those in power.

Nearly everywhere Buddhism went, there had been a higher level of literacy, even in miserable Burma, not to mention Thailand and Sri Lanka.

It’s very easy to capture pictures of jubilant people in the street after the nuclear bomb. But there were no pictures of morose people sitting in their kitchens and living rooms.

I'’m generally in favor of economic globalization. Having said that, it doesn’t always work and does not immediately work in the interest of all. There are sufferers.

Resenting the obtuseness of others is not good ground for shooting oneself in the foot.

I have not had any serious non-academic job.

It was incredible to me that members of one community could kill members of another not for anything personal that they did but simply based on their identity.

I left Delhi, in 1971, shortly after Collective Choice and Social Welfare was published in 1970.