Quote preview background for Thomas Robert Malthus
The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future periodbe much better instructed than they are at present; they may be taughtto employ the little spare time they have in many better ways than atthe ale-house; they may live under better and more equal laws than theyhave ever hitherto done, perhaps, in any country; and I even conceive itpossible, though not probable that they may have more leisure; but it isnot in the nature of things that they can be awarded such a quantity ofmoney or subsistence as will allow them all to marry early, in the fullconfidence that they shall be able to provide with ease for a numerousfamily.
Thomas Robert Malthus An Essay on the Principle of Population
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The lower classes of people in Europe may at some future periodbe much better instructed than they are at present; they may be taughtto employ the little spare time they have in many better ways than atthe ale-house; they may live under better and more equal laws than theyhave ever hitherto done, perhaps, in any country; and I even conceive itpossible, though not probable that they may have more leisure; but it isnot in the nature of things that they can be awarded such a quantity ofmoney or subsistence as will allow them all to marry early, in the fullconfidence that they shall be able to provide with ease for a numerousfamily.
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Thomas Robert Malthus

An Essay on the Principle of Population

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