Population Quotes - Page 3

• A finite world can support only a finite population; therefore, population growth must eventually equal zero.

  Garrett Hardin

  Zero, Support, Growth

  Garrett James Hardin (1972). “Exploring new ethics for survival: the voyage of the spaceship Beagle”, Viking Adult

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• None of us know all the potentialities that slumber in the spirit of the population, or all the ways in which that population can surprise us when there is the right interplay of events.

  Vaclav Havel

  Faith, Hero, Events

  "Disturbing the Peace". Book by Vaclav Havel, 1986.

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• Almost half of the population of the world lives in rural regions and mostly in a state of poverty. Such inequalities in human development have been one of the primary reasons for unrest and, in some parts of the world, even violence.

  Abdul Kalam

  Development, Unrest, Half

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• The superior power of population cannot be checked without producing misery or vice.

  Thomas Malthus

  Vices, Misery, Superiors

  Thomas Robert Malthus (1959). “Population: The First Essay”, p.13, University of Michigan Press

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• As a woman leader, I thought I brought a different kind of leadership. I was interested in women's issues, in bringing down the population growth rate... as a woman, I entered politics with an additional dimension - that of a mother.

  Benazir Bhutto

  Mother, Issues, Leader

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• In the US, there is basically one party - the business party. It has two factions, called Democrats and Republicans, which are somewhat different but carry out variations on the same policies. By and large, I am opposed to those policies. As is most of the population.

  Noam Chomsky

  Party, Two, Interesting

  "The NS Interview: Noam Chomsky". Interview with Alyssa Mcdonald, www.newstatesman.com. September 13, 2010.

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• It's obvious that the key problem facing humanity in the coming century is how to bring a better quality of life - for 8 billion or more people - without wrecking the environment entirely in the attempt.

  E. O. Wilson

  Keys, Population Problem, People

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• Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a finite world is either a madman or an economist.

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  Fun, Believe, Population Problem

  "The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth" by Kenneth E. Boulding, 1966.

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• My three main goals would be to reduce human population to about 100 million worldwide, destroy the industrial infrastructure and see wilderness, with it's full complement of species, returning throughout the world.

  David Foreman

  Eugenics, Goal, Would Be

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• Birth control itself, often denounced as a violation of natural law, is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives.

  Margaret Sanger

  Weed, Eugenics, Law

  Margaret Sanger (2005). “Woman and the New Race”, p.229, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Our failure to segregate morons who are increasing and multiplying . . . demonstrates our foolhardy and extravagant sentimentalism.

  Margaret Sanger

  Eugenics, Parenthood, Moron

  Margaret Sanger, Michael W. Perry, H. G. Wells (2003). “The Pivot of Civilization in Historical Perspective: The Birth Control Classic”, p.403, Inkling Books

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• 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 Malthus

  Science, Numbers, Ratios

  Thomas Robert Malthus (1959). “Population: The First Essay”, p.5, University of Michigan Press

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• The destructive one-fourth must be eliminated from the social body.

  Barbara Marx Hubbard

  Eugenics, Body, Social

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• There can be no permanent progress in the battle against hunger until the agencies that fight for increased food production and those that fight for population control unite in a common effort.

  Norman Borlaug

  Fighting, Agency, Population Problem

  Norman Borlaug's acceptance speech for the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, www.nobelprize.org. December 10, 1970.

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• If there were a button I could press, I would sacrifice myself without hesitating, if it meant millions of people would die.

  Pentti Linkola

  Sacrifice, People, Buttons

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• If government knew how, I should like to see it check, not multiply, the population. When it reaches its true law of action, every man that is born will be hailed as essential.

  Ralph Waldo Emerson

  Men, Law, Essentials

  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Barbara L. Packer, Joseph Slater, Douglas Emory Wilson (2003). “The Conduct of Life”, p.132, Harvard University Press

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• Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health-care resources more prudently – rationing, by its proper name – the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget.

  Steven Rattner

  Names, Swamps, Care

  "Beyond Obamacare". www.nytimes.com. September 16, 2012.

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• Governments don't want a population capable of critical thinking, they want obedient workers, people just smart enough to run the machines and just dumb enough to passively accept their situation.

  George Carlin

  Running, Smart, Thinking

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• If a Black Death could be spread throughout the world once in every generation survivors could procreate freely without making the world too full.

  Bertrand Russell

  Eugenics, Black, Survivor

  Bertrand Russell (2015). “The Impact of Science On Society”, p.85, Lulu Press, Inc

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• So why don't we make ourselves the last generation on earth? If we would all agree to have ourselves sterilized then no sacrifices would be required - we could party our way into extinction!

  Peter Singer

  Party, Sacrifice, Would Be

  Peter Singer (2016). “Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter”, p.33, Princeton University Press

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• This year, the United States renewed funding of reproductive healthcare through the United Nations Population Fund, and more funding is on the way. The U.S. Congress recently appropriated more than $648 million in foreign assistance to family planning and reproductive health programs worldwide. That's the largest allocation in more than a decade - since we last had a Democratic president, I might add.

  Hillary Clinton

  Years, President, United States

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• This planet might be able to support perhaps as many as half a billion people who could live a sustainable life in relative comfort. Human populations must be greatly diminished, and as quickly as possible to limit further environmental damage.

  Eric Pianka

  People, Support, Environmental

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• If I were reincarnated I would wish to be returned to Earth as a killer virus to lower human population levels.

  Prince Philip

  Ebola, Wish, Viruses

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• According to the most common interpretation of biblical prophecy, Jesus will return only after things have gone horribly awry. Imagine the consequences if any significant component of the U.S. government believed that the world was about to end and that its ending would be glorious. The fact that nearly half of the American population apparently believes this should be considered a moral and intellectual emergency.

  Sam Harris

  Jesus, Believe, Biblical

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• I don't know … but I think this Ebola epidemic is a form of population control.

  Chris Brown

  Thinking, Epidemics, Ebola

  Twitter post from Oct 13, 2014

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