Quotessence
Home / Authors / Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus

Thomas Malthus Quotes

Scholar

Filter quotes by topic

AllPopulationIncreaseMenEconomyMayHumansEarthPoorClassCountryLawMeanSubsistenceYearsEvilHas BeensIfsRatiosWorldCauses

Famous Thomas Malthus Quotes

“The greatest talents have been frequently misapplied and have produced evil proportionate to the extent of their powers. Both reason and revelation seem to assure us that such minds will be condemned to eternal death, but while on earth, these vicious instruments performed their part in the great mass of impressions, by the disgust and abhorrence which they excited.”

MindHas BeensReasonSeemsEarthEvilTalentEternalMassInstrumentsExcitedImpressionRevelationsDisgustingViciousAbhorrence
Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated
Create image

“The natural inequality of the two powers of population and of production in the earth, and that great law of our nature which must constantly keep their efforts equal, form the great difficulty that to me appears insurmountable in the way to the perfectibility of society.”

WayTwoEarthFormLawNaturalEffortEqualDifficultyPopulationProductionsInequalityInsurmountable
Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated
Create image

“Where there are few people, and a great quantity of fertile land, the power of the earth to afford a yearly increase of food may be compared to a great reservoir of water, supplied by a moderate stream. The faster population increases, the more help will be got to draw off the water, and consequently an increasing quantity will be taken every year. But the sooner, undoubtedly, will the reservoir be exhausted, and the streams only remain.”

PeopleYearsMayHelpingEarthWaterTakenLandDrawsIncreasePopulationFasterStreamsQuantityExhaustedModeratesEugenicsFertileEuthanasiaReservoirs
Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population and Other Writings
Create image