I Would Rather Be Governed By the First 2,000 People in the Telephone Directory than by the Harvard University Faculty

William F. Buckley Jr.? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: I am trying to verify a quotation from the conservative commentator and novelist William F. Buckley Jr. It goes something like this: I would rather be governed by the first 1,000 people listed in the phone book than by the faculty members from an Ivy League University. …

The Trouble with Socialism Is Socialism; the Trouble with Capitalism is Capitalists

William F. Buckley Jr.? William Schlamm? Winston Churchill? Herbert Hoover? Dear Quote Investigator: I have heard a humorous saying that compares two major economic systems: The problem with socialism is socialism. The problem with capitalism is capitalists. These words have been attributed to conservative commentator William F Buckley Jr. and British statesman Winston Churchill. Would …

A Shortage of Sand in the Sahara

Milton Friedman? William F. Buckley Jr.? French Sage? Alfred E. Kahn? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: The well-known economist Milton Friedman was often critical of governmental power. The following saying has been attributed to him: If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand. …