Thomas Malthus：An Essay on the Principle of Population, Excerpt 61

The mass of happiness among the common people cannot but be diminished when one of the strongest checks to idleness and dissipation is thus removed, and when men are thus allured to marry with little or no prospect of being able to maintain a family in independence. Every obstacle in the way of marriage must undoubtedly be considered as a species of unhappiness. But as from the laws of our nature some check to population must exist, it is better that it should be checked from a foresight of the difficulties attending a family and the fear of dependent poverty than that it should be encouraged, only to be repressed afterwards by want and sickness.

Source： https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4239
Locator：Excerpt 61 · Verified：2026-10-19 · Verification：Short excerpt

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