The prodigious waste of human life occasioned by this perpetual struggle for room and food, was more than supplied by the mighty power of population, acting, in some degree, unshackled, from the constant habit of emigration.
Thomas MalthusRead
Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Unchecked population growth can rapidly surpass resources.
Thomas Malthus's quote highlights the concern that when population growth is allowed to continue without checks, it will increase exponentially, which may lead to resource depletion and societal challenges. This idea serves as a warning for sustainable population management and resource allocation to prevent crises arising from overpopulation.
Themes
PopulationGrowthResourcesExponentialSustainability
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be referenced in discussions about sustainable development policies.
More from Thomas Malthus
All quotes βThe power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man.
Thomas MalthusRead
The rich, by unfair combinations, contribute frequently to prolong a season of distress among the poor.
Thomas MalthusRead
In a state therefore of great equality and virtue, where pure and simple manners prevailed, the increase of the human species would evidently be much greater than any increase that has been hitherto known.
Thomas MalthusRead
I think it will be found that experience, _x000D_ the true source and foundation of all knowledge, _x000D_ invariably confirms its truth.
Thomas MalthusRead
Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in comparison of the second.
Thomas MalthusRead
Similar quotes
Observations indicate that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. It will expand forever, getting emptier and darker. Although the universe doesnβt have an end, it had a beginning in the Big Bang. One might ask what is before that but the answer is that there is nowhere before the Big Bang just as there is nowhere south of the South Pole.
Stephen HawkingRead
So far as physics is concerned, time's arrow is a property of entropy alone.
Arthur EddingtonRead
Scientific discovery may not be better than sex, but the satisfaction lasts longer.
Stephen HawkingRead
I did not come to NASA to make history.
Sally RideRead
Very few recognize science as the high adventure it really is, the wildest of all explorations ever taken by human beings, the chance to glimpse things never seen before, the shrewdest maneuver for discovering how the world works.
Lewis ThomasRead
Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity; it teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration, not to mention the deep awe and joy that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist.
Lise MeitnerRead