Thomas Malthus：An Essay on the Principle of Population, Excerpt 119

I have endeavoured to expose the fallacy of that argument which infers an unlimited progress from a partial improvement, the limits of which cannot be exactly ascertained. It has appeared, I think, that there are many instances in which a decided progress has been observed, where yet it would be a gross absurdity to suppose that progress indefinite. But towards the extinction of the passion between the sexes, no observable progress whatever has hitherto been made. To suppose such an extinction, therefore, is merely to offer an unfounded conjecture, unsupported by any philosophical probabilities.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
Locator：Excerpt 119 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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