Nature must obey necessity.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The necessities were going by default to save the luxuries until I hardly knew which were necessities and which luxuries.
—Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American Architect
Necessity is the mother of invention.
—Common Proverb
Necessity takes impartially the highest and the lowest.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Teach thy necessity to reason thus;
There is no virtue like necessity.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Foul water will quench fire.
—English Proverb
Necessity is the mistress and guardian of Nature.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
Make yourself necessary to somebody.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
We have entered an age in which education is not just a luxury permitting some men an advantage over others. It has become a necessity without which a person is defenseless in this complex, industrialized society. We have truly entered the century of the educated man.
—Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–73) American Head of State, Political leader
Necessity, the mother of invention.
—William Wycherley (c.1640–1716) English Dramatist
What one has to do usually can be done.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
What fate imposes, men must needs abide; it boots not to resist both wind and tide.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
The superfluous is very necessary.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Our necessities never equal our wants.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Invention is the mother of necessity.
—Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) American Economist, Social Critic
Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Necessity is often the spur to genius.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Necessity is not an established fact, but rather an interpretation.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Necessity has no law.
—Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) British Head of State, Military Leader
Necessity reconciles and brings men together; and this accidental connection afterwards forms itself into laws.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Necessity does everything well.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Necessity is the mother of taking chances.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Vice came in always at the door of necessity, not at the door of inclination.
—Daniel Defoe (1659–1731) English Writer, Journalist, Pamphleteer
Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Must! Is must a word to be addressed to princes? Little man, little man! thy father, if he had been alive, durst not have used that word.
—Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) British Monarch
Necessity does the work of courage.
—Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) American Philosopher, Diplomat, Educator