The command “Be fruitful and multiply” was promulgated, according to our authorities, when the population of the world consisted of two people. – William Ralph Inge, More Lay Thoughts of a Dean, 1931

One of the first laws against air pollution came in 1300 when King Edward I decreed the death penalty for burning of coal. At least one execution for that offense is recorded. But economics triumphed over health considerations, and air pollution became an appalling problem in England. – Glenn T. Seaborg, Atomic Energy Commission chairman, speech, Argonne National La

The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago… had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands. – Havelock Ellis, The Dance of Life, 1923

The problem is no longer that with every pair of hands that comes into the world there comes a hungry stomach. Rather it is that, attached to those hands are sharp elbows. – Paul A. Samuelson, Newsweek, 12 June 1967