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
How base a thing it is when a man will struggle with necessity! We have to die.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Freedom is the recognition of necessity.
—Friedrich Engels (1820–95) German Socialist Political Philosopher
Against necessity, against its strength, no one can fight and win.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
Necessity takes impartially the highest and the lowest.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Nobody should trust their virtue with necessity, the force of which is never known till it is felt, and it is therefore one of the first duties to avoid the temptation of it.
—Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762) English Aristocrat, Poet, Novelist, Writer
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 is the mistress and guardian of Nature.
—Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Polymath, Painter, Sculptor, Inventor, Architect
Necessity never made a good bargain.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Necessity, the mother of invention.
—William Wycherley (c.1640–1716) English Dramatist
Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Necessity is a violent school-mistress.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Nothing has more strength than dire necessity.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Arguably the only goods people need these days are food and happiness.
—Terence Conran (1931–2020) English Designer, Businessman
Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity, because his freedom is always won in his never wholly successful attempts to liberate himself from necessity.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
Vice came in always at the door of necessity, not at the door of inclination.
—Daniel Defoe (1659–1731) English Writer, Journalist, Pamphleteer
It is necessity and not pleasure that compels us.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Invention is the mother of necessity.
—Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) American Economist, Social Critic
What one has to do usually can be done.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
We cannot conquer fate and necessity, yet we can yield to them in such a manner as to be greater than if we could.
—Walter Savage Landor (1775–1864) English Writer, Poet
When necessity speaks, it demands.
—Russian Proverb
Necessity reconciles and brings men together; and this accidental connection afterwards forms itself into laws.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
An extravagance is something that your spirit thinks is a necessity.
—Bert Williams (1876–1922) American Entertainer, Actor
And with necessity, the tyrant’s plea, excused his devilish deeds.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Necessity does the work of courage.
—Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) American Philosopher, Diplomat, Educator
Necessity is not an established fact, but rather an interpretation.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer