# Quote — Daniel Quinn, Ishmael

> “‘Intensification of production to feed an increased population leads to a still greater increase in population.’ Peter Farb said it in Humankind.”
>
> “You said it was a paradox?”
>
> “No, he said it was a paradox.”
>
> “Why?”
>
> Ishmael shrugged. “I’m sure he knows that any species in the wild will invariably expand to the extent that its food supply expands. But, as you know, Mother Culture teaches that such laws do not apply to man.”

- Author: [Daniel Quinn](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn.md)
- Book: [Ishmael](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael.md)
- Page: 133
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Quinn#Ishmael_(1992)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/intensification-of-production

## More from this book

> Of course it’s not enough. But if you begin anywhere else, there’s no hope at all.

p. 248 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/of-course-its.md)

> If the will is there, the method will be found.

p. 140 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/if-the-will.md)

> “One thing I know people will say to me is ‘Are you suggesting we go back to being hunter-gatherers?’”
>
> “That of course is an inane idea,” Ishmael said. “The Leaver life-style isn’t about hunting and gathering, it’s about letting the rest of the community live—and agriculturalists can do that as well as hunter-gatherers.”

p. 250 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/daniel-quinn/ishmael/one-thing-i-know.md)