Thomas Robert Malthus
English economist and cleric (1766 to 1834); author of An Essay on the Principle of Population.
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Unchecked population grows geometrically, while subsistence grows only arithmetically
Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.
gutenberg.orgSaid c. 1798This on korrents
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Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 19 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
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Unchecked population grows geometrically, while subsistence grows only arithmetically
Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
No scheme of equality or land reform could lift population pressure for even a century
No fancied equality, no agrarian regulations in their utmost extent, could remove the pressure of it even for a single century.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
If its premises hold, the population argument rules out perfecting the mass of mankind
Consequently, if the premises are just, the argument is conclusive against the perfectibility of the mass of mankind.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
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No form of society could prevent constant misery for many, or for everyone if all were equal
But though the rich by unfair combinations contribute frequently to prolong a season of distress among the poor, yet no possible form of society could prevent the almost constant action of misery upon a great part of mankind, if in a state of inequality, and upon all, if all were equal.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Restraints on marriage produce vices that bring lasting unhappiness almost everywhere
The effects, indeed, of these restraints upon marriage are but too conspicuous in the consequent vices that are produced in almost every part of the world, vices that are continually involving both sexes in inextricable unhappiness.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
The poor laws in some measure create the poor they maintain
They may be said therefore in some measure to create the poor which they maintain, and as the provisions of the country must, in consequence of the increased population, be distributed to every man in smaller proportions, it is evident that the labour of those who are not supported by parish assistance will purchase a smaller quantity of provisions than before and consequently more of them must be driven to ask for support.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Dependent poverty ought to be held disgraceful, however hard that seems in single cases
Hard as it may appear in individual instances, dependent poverty ought to be held disgraceful.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
A labourer who marries without means to support a family is in some respects an enemy to other labourers
A labourer who marries without being able to support a family may in some respects be considered as an enemy to all his fellow-labourers.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Without the poor laws the common people would on the whole have been much happier
The evil is perhaps gone too far to be remedied, but I feel little doubt in my own mind that if the poor laws had never existed, though there might have been a few more instances of very severe distress, yet that the aggregate mass of happiness among the common people would have been much greater than it is at present.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Every check on population can be reduced to misery and vice
All these checks may be fairly resolved into misery and vice.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
For an equal society the population difficulty would be immediate, not a remote one
An event at such a distance might fairly be left to providence, but the truth is that if the view of the argument given in this Essay be just the difficulty, so far from being remote, would be imminent and immediate.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Improvement whose limit is unknown is wrongly taken for unlimited improvement
The error does not seem to lie in supposing a small degree of improvement possible, but in not discriminating between a small improvement, the limit of which is undefined, and an improvement really unlimited.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Human institutions are only superficial causes of misery compared with deeper causes
But the truth is, that though human institutions appear to be the obvious and obtrusive causes of much mischief to mankind, yet in reality they are light and superficial, they are mere feathers that float on the surface, in comparison with those deeper seated causes of impurity that corrupt the springs and render turbid the whole stream of human life.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Godwin's equal society, if established, would collapse from population growth within thirty years
If then we were to take the period of doubling at fifteen years, instead of twenty-five years, and reflect upon the labour necessary to double the produce in so short a time, even if we allow it possible, we may venture to pronounce with certainty that if Mr Godwin's system of society was established in its utmost perfection, instead of myriads of centuries, not thirty years could elapse before its utter destruction from the simple principle of population.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
A person may be convinced of a truth by reason yet still act against it
A truth may be brought home to his conviction as a rational being, though he may determine to act contrary to it, as a compound being.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
The world may be better seen as God's process for forming minds than as a trial
I should be inclined, therefore, as I have hinted before, to consider the world and this life as the mighty process of God, not for the trial, but for the creation and formation of mind, a process necessary to awaken inert, chaotic matter into spirit, to sublimate the dust of the earth into soul, to elicit an ethereal spark from the clod of clay.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Unbroken prosperity tends to degrade character rather than raise it
The general tendency of an uniform course of prosperity is rather to degrade than exalt the character.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Moral evil is very probably necessary for moral excellence to arise
It seems highly probable that moral evil is absolutely necessary to the production of moral excellence.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
Evil exists to spur action, so we should strive against it rather than submit
Evil exists in the world not to create despair but activity. We are not patiently to submit to it, but to exert ourselves to avoid it.
An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798, first edition) Said c. 1798
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