Source: Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery (1787), p. 4
“The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future period be much better instructed then they are at present; they may be taught to employ the little spare time they have in many better ways than at the ale-house; they may live under better and more equal laws than they have hitherto done, perhaps, in any country; and I even conceive it possible, though not probable, that they may have more leisure; but it is not in the nature of things, that they can be awarded such a quantity of money or substance, as will allow them all to marry early, in the full confidence that they shall be able to provide with ease for a numerous family.”
Source: An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised), Chapter XIV, paragraph 9
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Thomas Robert Malthus 60
British political economist 1766–1834Related quotes
“If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is natures way.”
3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)
1990s
Context: Finally, I would like to assure my many Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim friends that I am sincerely happy that the religion which Chance has given you has contributed to your peace of mind (and often, as Western medical science now reluctantly admits, to your physical well-being). Perhaps it is better to be un-sane and happy, than sane and un-happy. But it is the best of all to be sane and happy. Whether our descendants can achieve that goal will be the greatest challenge of the future. Indeed, it may well decide whether we have any future.
Source: Anarchy after Leftism (1997), Chapter 11: Anarchy after Leftism
Context: There is life after the left. And there is anarchy after anarchism. Post-leftist anarchists are striking off in many directions. Some may find the way — better yet, the ways — to a free future.
As quoted in Abstract Expressionist Painting in America (1983) by W.C, Seitz, p. 88
1970s and later
Source: quoted in Ibn, W. (2009). Defending the West: A critique of Edward Said's Orientalism. Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books.
“Two paradoxes are better than one; they may even suggest a solution.”
Conversations on the Dark Secrets of Physics (1991) by Edward Teller, Wendy Teller and Wilson Talley, Ch. 9, p. 135 footnote