A Christmas Carol

 In the book A Christmas Carol  Scrooge mentions that "…If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the population." about a boy in the book. This was in the beginning though. As a reader, my first thought is that Scrooge is just an awful person who says things like this all of the time. But as Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future one of the ghosts mimic's his words when Scrooge sees a dear relative about to die. Scrooge no longer agrees with his words which is one reason the quote was used-to teach a lesson. Later on, in Christmas future he figures out that soon he will die too.  I figured that since Scrooge used to believe that if someone was not benefiting the world they should die, he should die as well. Although he is rich he doesn't use his wealth in a positive way so "If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the population."