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.
We come into the world laden with the weight of an infinite necessity.
Arguably the only goods people need these days are food and happiness.
Necessity has no law.
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.
Make yourself necessary to somebody.
By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent.
Necessity does everything well.
We do what we must, and call it by the best names.
Nothing has more strength than dire necessity.
Necessity never made a good bargain.
Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy necessities.
To hard necessity ones will and fancy must conform.
Necessity is the author of change.
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.
Fact I know; and Law I know; but what is this Necessity, save an empty shadow of my own mind's throwing?
If people should ever start to do only what is necessary millions would die of hunger.
It is surprising what a man can do when he has to, and how little most men will do when they don't have to.
Nothing is necessary except God, and nothing is less necessary than pain.
Necessity has the face of a dog.
Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity.
Necessity is the mother of attraction.
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.
Necessity is not an established fact, but rather an interpretation.
Only useless things are indispensable.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Foul water will quench fire.
What one has to do usually can be done.
Necessity makes even the timid brave.
— Sallust
Necessity is the mother of invention, it is true -- but it's father is creativity, and knowledge is the midwife.
Nature must obey necessity. [Julius Caesar]
Necessity knows no law except to conquer.
Necessity is the mother of taking chances.
Need is the driving force, Need makes people better -- luck only makes them worse.
The superfluous is very necessary.
— Voltaire
We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.