Some intervals of ease are necessary to health and happiness: and the occasional abuse of such intervals is no valid argument against their use.] [Footnote 18: I have hinted before, in a note, that profits may, without impropriety, be called a surplus. But, whether surplus or not, they are the most important source of wealth, as they are, beyond all question, the main source of accumulation.] [Footnote 19: Adam Smith notices the bad effects of high profits on the habits of the capitalist. They may perhaps sometimes occasion extravagance; but generally, I should say, that extravagant habits were a more frequent cause of a scarcity of capital and high profits, than high profits of extravagant habits.] End of Project Gutenberg's Nature and Progress of Rent, by Thomas Malthus