73 Quotes by Garrett Hardin

In an approximate way, the logic of commons has been understood for a long time, perhaps since the discovery of agriculture or the invention of private property in real estate.

However, I think the major opposition to ecology has deeper roots than mere economics; ecology threatens widely held values so fundamental that they must be called religious.

The rational man finds that his share of the cost of the wastes he discharges into the commons is less than the cost of purifying his wastes before releasing them.

Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.

It is a mistake to think that we can control the breeding of mankind in the long run by an appeal to conscience.

To say that we mutually agree to coercion is not to say that we are required to enjoy it, or even to pretend we enjoy it.

A coldly rationalist individualist can deny that he has any obligation to make sacrifices for the future.

In a finite world this means that the per capita share of the world's goods must steadily decrease.

But it is no good using the tongs of reason to pull the Fundamentalists' chestnuts out of the fire of contradiction. Their real troubles lie elsewhere.