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 has no law.
—Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) British Head of State, Military Leader
Necessity is the mother of invention.
—Common Proverb
Necessity of action takes away the fear of the act, and makes bold resolution the favorite of fortune.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Our necessities never equal our wants.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Buy what thou hast no need of, and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessaries.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
We do what we must, and call it by the best names.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Fear is the underminer of all determinations; and necessity, the victorious rebel of all laws.
—Philip Sidney (1554–86) English Soldier Poet, Courtier
The necessary has never been man’s top priority. The passionate pursuit of the nonessential and the extravagant is one of the chief traits of human uniqueness. Unlike other forms of life, man’s greatest exertions are made in the pursuit not of necessities but of superfluities.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Necessity makes an honest man a knave.
—Daniel Defoe (1659–1731) English Writer, Journalist, Pamphleteer
Necessity, the mother of invention.
—William Wycherley (c.1640–1716) English Dramatist
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
We come into the world laden with the weight of an infinite necessity.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
Necessity is often the spur to genius.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
Nothing has more strength than dire necessity.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Fact I know; and Law I know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind’s throwing?
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95) English Biologist
Necessity may render a doubtful act innocent, but it cannot make it praise worthy.
—Joseph Joubert (1754–1824) French Writer, Moralist
Necessity is a violent school-mistress.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German 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
Freedom is the recognition of necessity.
—Friedrich Engels (1820–95) German Socialist Political 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
The superfluous is very necessary.
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author
We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Vice came in always at the door of necessity, not at the door of inclination.
—Daniel Defoe (1659–1731) English Writer, Journalist, Pamphleteer
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.
—Publilius Syrus (fl.85–43 BCE) Syrian-born Roman Latin Writer
Invention is the mother of necessity.
—Thorstein Veblen (1857–1929) American Economist, Social Critic
Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
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
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
It is necessity and not pleasure that compels us.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
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
Against necessity, against its strength, no one can fight and win.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Poet
What fate imposes, men must needs abide; it boots not to resist both wind and tide.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
A people never fairly begins to prosper till necessity is treading on its heels. The growing want of room is one of the sources of civilization. Population is power, but it must be a population that, in growing, is made daily apprehensive of the morrow.
—William Gilmore Simms (1806–70) American Poet, Novelist, Historian
Necessity takes impartially the highest and the lowest.
—Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65–8 BCE) Roman Poet
An extravagance is something that your spirit thinks is a necessity.
—Bert Williams
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
Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity.
—Karl Marx (1818–1883) German Philosopher, Economist
Arguably the only goods people need these days are food and happiness.
—Terence Conran (1931–2020) English Designer, Businessman
Necessity reconciles and brings men together; and this accidental connection afterwards forms itself into laws.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
If people should ever start to do only what is necessary millions would die of hunger.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
Necessity is the mother of taking chances.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
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
Great necessity elevates man, petty necessity casts him down
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
How base a thing it is when a man will struggle with necessity! We have to die.
—Euripides (480–406 BCE) Ancient Greek Dramatist
Necessity does the work of courage.
—Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) American Philosopher, Diplomat, Educator
Need is the driving force, Need makes people better—luck only makes them worse.
—Unknown