Amartya Sen Quotes

Poverty is a big barrier if you are at the bottom layer of society, don’t know where the next meal is coming from. It is not a big barrier of taking the rich with the poor in a big society to provide schooling for all.

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

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

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

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.

I think gender inequality is a problem that goes back a long, long time. In human society, as a whole, women have tended to have a kind of inferior position – very often combined with playing up women as great role [models].

Being able to read, write, do your sums really transforms a human being.

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

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

Capability is just a concept of what is it we’re looking at. Now how far we can go along that and what new capabilities become possible is something we have to judge.

If you’re dealing with grappling [with] problems of feeding people, the biggest impact in fertility reduction is girls’ schools. Schooled girls make a bigger impact on that than any other factor – not these various regulations [such as] you have to have one child or that. It turns out that none of these are effective.

From the mid-1970s, I also started work on the causation and prevention of famines.