"Mr. Malthus's first octavo volume on this subject (published in the year 1798) was intended as an answer to Mr. Godwin's Enquiry concerning Political Justice. It was well got up for the purpose, and had an immediate effect. It was what in the language of the ring is called a facer. It made Mr. Godwin and the other advocates of Modern Philosophy look about them. It may be almost doubted whether Mr. Malthus was in the first instance serious in many things that he threw out, or whether he did not hazard the whole as an amusing and extreme paradox, which might puzzle the reader as it had done himself in an idle moment, but to which no practical consequence whatever could attach."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Academics from EnglandEssayists from EnglandPhilosophers from EnglandEconomists from EnglandClassical economists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
William Hazlitt, The Spirit of the Age; Or, Contemporary Portraits
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Thomas Robert Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus (13 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English demographer and political economist best known for his pessimistic but highly influential views on population growth.
82 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Thomas Robert Malthus →
Related Quotes
"Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio, Subsistence, increases only in an arithmetical ratio."
"The love of independence is a sentiment that surely none would wish to see erased from the breast of man, though the …"
"To remedy the frequent distresses of the common people, the poor laws of England have been instituted; but it is to b…"
"The transfer of three shillings and sixpence a day to every labourer would not increase the quantity of meat in the c…"
"I feel no doubt whatever that the parish laws of England have contributed to raise the price of provisions and to low…"
"The labouring poor, to use a vulgar expression, seem always to live from hand to mouth. Their present wants employ th…"
"Every endeavor should be used to weaken and destroy all those institutions relating to corporations, apprenticeships,…"
"To prevent the recurrence of misery is, alas! beyond the power of man."
"It accords with the most liberal spirit of philosophy to suppose that not a stone can fall, or a plant rise, without …"
"It is an acknowledged truth in philosophy that a just theory will always be confirmed by experiment."