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Thomas Malthus

Thomas Malthus Quotes

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Famous Thomas Malthus Quotes

“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.”

PeopleMayLittlesHas BeensLawEvilIndividualPoorCommonEnglandSpreadSurfaceMisfortunesIntensityRemedyDistress
Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population: Illustrated
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“On the whole it may be observed, that the specific use of a body of unproductive consumers, is to give encouragement to wealth by maintaining such a balance between produce and consumption as will give the greatest exchangeable value to the results of the national industry.”

GivingMayWholeUseBodyValuesWealthResultsProduceIndustryBalanceEncouragementConsumersConsumptionMaintainingUnproductive
Book:The Works of Thomas Robert Malthus: Principles of political economy. Part 2
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“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
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“It does not, however, seem impossible that by an attention to breed, a certain degree of improvement, similar to that among animals, might take place among men. Whether intellect could be communicated may be a matter of doubt: but size, strength, beauty, complexion, and perhaps even longevity are in a degree transmissible... As the human race could not be improved in this way, without condemning all the bad specimens to celibacy, it is not probable, that an attention to breed should ever become general.”

MenWayShouldHumansMayDoeMatterSeemsMightCertainAnimalRaceAttentionDoubtImpossibleDegreesSizeIntellectImprovementHuman RaceLongevityEugenicsCelibacyCondemningComplexion
Author:Thomas Malthus
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