Thomas Malthus：An Essay on the Principle of Population, Excerpt 139

The real perfectibility of man may be illustrated, as I have mentioned before, by the perfectibility of a plant. The object of the enterprising florist is, as I conceive, to unite size, symmetry, and beauty of colour. It would surely be presumptuous in the most successful improver to affirm, that he possessed a carnation in which these qualities existed in the greatest possible state of perfection. However beautiful his flower may be, other care, other soil, or other suns, might produce one still more beautiful.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
Locator：Excerpt 139 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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