The Caves of Steel (Robot, #1)

by Isaac Asimov

Efficiency had been forced on Earth with increasing population. Two billion people, three billion, even five billion could be supported by the planet by progressive lowering of the standard of living. When the population reaches eight billion, however, semistarvation becomes too much like the real thing.

“Better your own road to hell than another’s road to heaven, eh? I know how you must feel. It is not pleasant to listen to the preaching of a stranger.

It is an illusion of reality experienced during the temporary suspension of conscious thought which you call sleep.”

“Higher than law? Is that not a contradiction in terms?”

“There are degrees of justice, Elijah. When the lesser is incompatible with the greater, the lesser must give way.”