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
Thomas Malthus quotes about
higher histories mankind possess
The histories of mankind that we possess are histories only of the higher classes.
unhappy-person law suffering
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.
vices population misery
The superior power of population cannot be checked without producing misery or vice.
encouragement giving balance
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.
opposites scales feathers
A feather will weigh down a scale when there is nothing in the opposite one.
population faster
Capitals accumulate faster than population
equality simple virtue
In a state therefore of great equality and virtue, where pure and simple manners prevailed, the increase of the human species would evidently be much greater than any increase that has been hitherto known.
encouragement population multiplication
The most effectual encouragement to population is, the activity of industry, and the consequent multiplication of the national products.
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.