All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income.
 Samuel Butler, The Note-Books of Samuel Butler (1912). copy citation

add
Author Samuel Butler
Source The Note-Books of Samuel Butler
Topic progress desire
Date 1912
Language English
Reference
Note
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6173/6173-h/6173-h.htm

Context

“Nature is essentially mean, mediocre. You can have schemes for raising the level of this mean, but not for making every one two inches taller than his neighbour, and this is what people really care about. xvi All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income. The World i The world is a gambling-table so arranged that all who enter the casino must play and all must lose more or less heavily in the long run, though they win occasionally by the way. ii We play out our days as we play out cards, taking them as they come, not knowing what they will be, hoping for a lucky card and sometimes getting one, often getting just the wrong one.” source