Note 300 — Chapter III · : THE PESSIMISTS
R. (Robert) Richards translation
“Of the other branch of the preventive check, which comes under the head of vice, though its effect appears to have been very considerable, yet upon the whole its operation seems to have been inferior to the positive checks.” (P. 140.)
“I have said what I conceive to be strictly true, that it is our duty to defer marriage till we can feed our children; and that it is also our duty not to indulge ourselves in vicious gratifications; but I have never said that I expected either, much less both, of these duties to be completely fulfilled. In this and a number of other cases, it may happen that the violation of one of two duties will enable a man to perform the other with greater facility.… The moralist is still bound to inculcate the practice of both duties, and each individual must be left to act as his conscience shall dictate.” (P. 560.)