Home / Authors / Thomas Malthus

Thomas Malthus Quotes

Scholar

Thomas Malthus, a British economist and demographer, was born on February 14, 1766, in Surrey, England, and died on December 23, 1834. Malthus is known for his theory of population, which posits that population growth will outstrip food supply, leading to poverty and suffering.

Filter quotes by topic

All Population Increase Men Economy May Humans Earth Poor Class Country Law Mean Subsistence Years Evil Has Beens Ifs Ratios World Causes

Famous Thomas Malthus Quotes

“The love of independence is a sentiment that surely none would wish to see erased from the breast of man, though the parish law of England, it must be confessed, is a system of all others the most calculated gradually to weaken this sentiment, and in the end may eradicate it completely.”

Men May Ends Law Wish England Independence Breasts Sentiments Parish

Book:Population: The First Essay

Source: Population: The First Essay

“To remedy the frequent distresses of the common people, the poor laws of England have been instituted; but it is to be feared that though they may have alleviated a little the intensity of individual misfortune, they have spread the general evil over a much larger surface.”

People May Littles Has Beens Law Evil Individual Poor Common England Spread Surface Misfortunes Intensity Remedy Distress

Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

Source: An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

“I feel no doubt whatever that the parish laws of England have contributed to raise the price of provisions and to lower the real price of labour.”

Feels Real Law Doubt England Raises No Doubt Labour Provision Parish

Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

Source: An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

“The perpetual tendency of the race of man to increase beyond the means of subsistence is one of the general laws of animated nature, which we can have no reason to expect to change.”

Men Mean Reason Law Race Increase Tendencies No Reason Perpetual Animated Subsistence

Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Imporvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers

Source: An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it Affects the Future Imporvement of Society, with Remarks on the Speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and Other Writers

“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.”

Way Two Earth Form Law Natural Effort Equal Difficulty Population Productions Inequality Insurmountable

Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

Source: An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

“Whether the law of marriage be instituted or not, the dictate of nature and virtue seems to be an early attachment to one woman.”

Seems Law Virtue Attachment One Woman

Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

Source: An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated

“It has appeared that from the inevitable laws of our nature, some human beings must suffer from want. These are the unhappy persons who, in the great lottery of life, have drawn a blank.”

Want Humans Persons Law Suffering Human Beings Unhappy Inevitable Blank Lottery Happy Person Unhappy Person

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

Source: An Essay on the Principle of Population and Other Writings