Thomas Malthus

Mr Godwin's conjecture concerning the indefinite prolongation of human life--Improper inference drawn from the effects of mental stimulants on the…

The instances here mentioned are chiefly instances of the effects of mental stimulants on the bodily frame. No person has ever for a moment doubted…

In the other cases, the argument is from a small and partial effect, to a great and general effect, which will in numberless instances be found to be…

I do not, however, mean to say that a sound and vigorous mind has no tendency whatever to keep the body in a similar state. So close and intimate…

The probable increase of the voluntary power of man over his animal frame comes next under Mr Godwin's consideration, and he concludes by saying,…

As the necessity of sleep seems rather to depend upon the body than the mind, it does not appear how the improvement of the mind can tend very…

As in these and similar instances, or to take a larger range, as in the great diversity of characters that have existed during some thousand years,…

The only difference, with regard to our own apprehensions, that is not in favour of the latter assertion is that the first miracle we have repeatedly…

The powers of selection, combination, and transmutation, which every seed shews, are truly miraculous. Who can imagine that these wonderful faculties…

If this be the just view of the subject, and both theory and experience unite to prove that it is, almost all Mr Godwin's reasonings on the subject…

The principal objects which human punishments have in view are undoubtedly restraint and example; restraint, or removal, of an individual member…

Restraint, Mr Godwin thinks, may be permitted as a temporary expedient, though he reprobates solitary imprisonment, which has certainly been the most…

Punishment, for example, is totally reprobated. By endeavouring to make examples too impressive and terrible, nations have, indeed, been led into the…

That human laws either do, or can, proportion the punishment accurately to the offence, no person will have the folly to assert. From the…

Under such circumstances, reasoning and arguments are not instruments from which success can be expected. At some future time perhaps, real satiety…

Mr Godwin's five propositions respecting political truth, on which his whole work hinges, not established--Reasons we have for supposing, from the…

If the reasonings of the preceding chapter are just, the corollaries respecting political truth, which Mr Godwin draws from the proposition, that the…

The first three propositions may be considered a complete syllogism. If by adequately communicated, be meant such a conviction as to produce an…

The real perfectibility of man may be illustrated, as I have mentioned before, by the perfectibility of a plant. The object of the enterprising…

Were it of consequence to improve pinks and carnations, though we could have no hope of raising them as large as cabbages, we might undoubtedly…

The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future period be much better instructed than they are at present; they may be taught to employ…

Models too perfect may sometimes rather impede than promote improvement--Mr Godwin's essay on 'Avarice and Profusion'--Impossibility of dividing…

Mr Godwin in the preface to his Enquirer, drops a few expressions which seem to hint at some change in his opinions since he wrote the Political…

The form and structure of society which Mr Godwin describes is as essentially distinct from any forms of society which have hitherto prevailed in the…

I think it has been proved in the former parts of this essay that such a state of society is absolutely impracticable. What consequences then are…

It should be observed that the principal argument of this Essay only goes to prove the necessity of a class of proprietors, and a class of labourers,…

In the present state of things, and particularly when labour is in request, the man who does a day's work for me confers full as great an…

Three or four hundred years ago there was undoubtedly much less labour in England, in proportion to the population, than at present, but there was…

The proper office of benevolence is to soften the partial evils arising from self-love, but it can never be substituted in its place. If no man…

I am perfectly willing to concede to Mr Godwin that there is much more labour in the world than is really necessary, and that, if the lower classes…

Perhaps there is no possible way in which wealth could in general be employed so beneficially to a state, and particularly to the lower orders of it,…

The labour created by luxuries, though useful in distributing the produce of the country, without vitiating the proprietor by power, or debasing…

Probable error of Dr Adam Smith in representing every increase of the revenue or stock of a society as an increase in the funds for the maintenance…

The question is whether wealth, increasing in this way, has any tendency to better the condition of the labouring poor. It is a self-evident…

It may be said, perhaps, that such an instance as I have supposed could not occur, because the rise in the price of provisions would immediately turn…

It might also be said, that the additional capital of the nation would enable it to import provisions sufficient for the maintenance of those whom…

An instance, accurately such as I have supposed, may not, perhaps, ever have occurred, but I have little doubt that instances nearly approximating to…

The commerce of this country, internal as well as external, has certainly been rapidly advancing during the last century. The exchangeable value in…

Could we believe the statement of Dr Price that the population of England has decreased since the Revolution, it would even appear that the effectual…

It is difficult, however, to conceive that the population of England has been declining since the Revolution, though every testimony concurs to prove…

That the produce of the land has been decreasing, or even that it has been absolutely stationary during the last century, few will be disposed to…

I would not by any means be understood to say that the former system either could or ought to have continued. The increasing price of butchers'…

That every increase of the stock or revenue of a nation cannot be considered as an increase of the real funds for the maintenance of labour and,…

An immense capital could not be employed in China in preparing manufactures for foreign trade without taking off so many labourers from agriculture…

The argument, perhaps, appears clearer when applied to China, because it is generally allowed that the wealth of China has been long stationary. With…

Question of the proper definition of the wealth of a state--Reason given by the French economists for considering all manufacturers as unproductive…

Suppose that two hundred thousand men, who are now employed in producing manufactures that only tend to gratify the vanity of a few rich people, were…

A capital employed upon land may be unproductive to the individual that employs it and yet be highly productive to the society. A capital employed in…

From this comparison, it appears with how much truth great cities have been called the graves of mankind. It must also convince all who consider it,…

The constant pressure of distress on man, from the principle of population, seems to direct our hopes to the future--State of trial inconsistent with…

The view of human life which results from the contemplation of the constant pressure of distress on man from the difficulty of subsistence, by…

A state of trial seems to imply a previously formed existence that does not agree with the appearance of man in infancy and indicates something…

This view of the state of man on earth will not seem to be unattended with probability, if, judging from the little experience we have of the…

Locke, if I recollect, says that the endeavour to avoid pain rather than the pursuit of pleasure is the great stimulus to action in life: and that in…

The necessity of food for the support of life gives rise, probably, to a greater quantity of exertion than any other want, bodily or mental. The…

That the difficulties of life contribute to generate talents, every day's experience must convince us. The exertions that men find it necessary to…

The sorrows of life necessary to soften and humanize the heart--The excitement of social sympathy often produce characters of a higher order than the…

The expression, when applied to any one object, may be considered as a poetical amplification, but it is accurately true when applied to nature.…

The obscurity that involves all metaphysical subjects appears to me, in the same manner, peculiarly calculated to add to that class of excitements…

The finest minds seem to be formed rather by efforts at original thinking, by endeavours to form new combinations, and to discover new truths, than…