The labouring poor, to use a vulgar expression, seem always to live from hand to mouth. Their present wants employ their whole whole attention, and they seldom think of the future. Even when they have an opportunity of saving they seldom exercise it, but all that is beyond their present neccessities goes, generally speaking, to the ale house.

Chapter V, paragraph 13, lines 8-13. - An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised)