Quote#Politics & Power
If nature had produced spontaneously all the objects which we desire,…
Quote byJames Mill · 1773–1836
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Government (1820).
English (original)
if nature had produced spontaneously all the objects which we desire, and in sufficient abundance for the desires of all, there would have been no source of dispute or of injury among men, nor would any man have possessed the means of ever acquiring authority over another. The results are exceedingly different when nature produces the objects of desire not in sufficient abundance for all.
— James Mill
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