Thomas Robert Malthus Quote

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.


Chapter XIV, paragraph 9. - An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised)


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...

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...

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...

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...