Thomas Malthus
Thomas Malthus
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS was an English cleric and scholar, influential in the fields of political economy and demography. Malthus himself used only his middle name Robert...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionEconomist
Date of Birth14 February 1766
exercise land numbers
If it be taught that all who are born have a right to support on the land, whatever be their number, and that there is no occasion to exercise any prudence in the affair of marriage so as to check this number, the temptations, according to all the known principles of human nature, will inevitably be yielded to, and more and more will gradually become dependent on parish assistance.
mean numbers people
The constant effort towards population, which is found even in the most vicious societies, increases the number of people before the means of subsistence are increased.
science numbers ratios
Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in comparison of the second.
afterwards effects increase power repressed room wherever
Wherever there is liberty, the power of increase is exerted, and the superabundant effects are repressed afterwards by want of room and nourishment.
found foundation invariably source true
I think it will be found that experience, the true source and foundation of all knowledge, invariably confirms its truth.
Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio.
asks beings bring cannot career means provide reason whether whom
Reason interrupts man's career and asks him whether he may not bring beings into the world for whom he cannot provide the means of subsistence.
higher histories mankind possess
The histories of mankind that we possess are histories only of the higher classes.
evil mind earth
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.
men able earth
I do not know that any writer has supposed that on this earth man will ultimately be able to live without food.
philosophy theory experiments
It is an acknowledged truth in philosophy that a just theory will always be confirmed by experiment.
eight house employment
It is not the most pleasant employment to spend eight hours a day in a counting house.
years luxury income
Thirty or forty proprietors, with incomes answering to between one thousand and five thousand a year, would create a much more effectual demand for the necessaries, conveniences, and luxuries of life, than a single proprietor possessing a hundred thousand a year.
may demand said
In general it may be said that demand is quite as necessary to the increase of capital as the increase of capital is to demand.