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 does everything well.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Need is the driving force, Need makes people better—luck only makes them worse.
—Unknown
The superfluous is very necessary.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Vice came in always at the door of necessity, not at the door of inclination.
—Daniel Defoe (1659–1731) English Writer, Journalist, Pamphleteer
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 takes impartially the highest and the lowest.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
“Necessity is the mother of invention” is a silly proverb. “Necessity is the mother of futile dodges” is much closer to the truth. The basis of growth of modern invention is science, and science is almost wholly the outgrowth of pleasurable intellectual curiosity.
—Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947) English Mathematician, Philosopher
Necessity is not an established fact, but rather an interpretation.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it praise worthy.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Nature must obey necessity.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Foul water will quench fire.
—English Proverb
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
Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
Necessity, that great refuge and excuse for human frailty, breaks through all law; and he is not to be accounted in fault whose crime is not the effect of choice, but force.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
Make yourself necessary to somebody.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
What was once to me mere matter of the fancy, now has grown to be the necessity of heart and life.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Necessity is often the spur to genius.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
It is necessity and not pleasure that compels us.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Where necessity ends, curiosity begins; and no sooner are we supplied with everything that nature can demand, than we sit down to contrive artificial appetites.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
Necessity is the mother of invention.
—Common Proverb
Necessity teaches all things
—German Proverb
Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity
—Democritus (c.460–c.370 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
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