necessity (n.)

necessity (adv.)

God, from a beautiful necessity, is Love.

Martin F Tupper (1810-1889): Of Immortality.

Necessity has no law.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Works. Book v. Chapter xv.

Necessity is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.

William Pitt (1759-1806): Speech on the India Bill, November, 1783.

Necessity knows no law except to conquer.

Publius Syrus (42 b c): Maxim 553.

The deep of night is crept upon our talk,

And nature must obey necessity.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Julius Caesar. Act iv. Sc. 3.

A wise man never refuses anything to necessity.

Publius Syrus (42 b c): Maxim 540.

It is a difficult thing for a man to resist the natural necessity of mortal passions.

Plutarch (46(?)-120(?) a d): Of those whom God is slow to punish.

Sheer necessity,—the proper parent of an art so nearly allied to invention.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): The Critic. Act i. Sc. 2.

One of his sayings was, "Even the gods cannot strive against necessity."

Diogenes Laertius (Circa 200 a d): Pittacus. iv.

Necessity, the mother of invention.

George Farquhar (1678-1707): The Twin Rivals. Act i.

And with necessity,

The tyrant's plea, excus'd his devilish deeds.

John Milton (1608-1674): Paradise Lost. Book iv. Line 393.

To maken vertue of necessite.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Canterbury Tales. The Knightes Tale. Line 3044.

Make a virtue of necessity.

Robert Burton (1576-1640): Anatomy of Melancholy. Part iii. Sect. 3, Memb. 4, Subsect. 1.

Who, doomed to go in company with Pain

And Fear and Bloodshed,—miserable train!—

Turns his necessity to glorious gain.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850): Character of the Happy Warrior.

As if we were villains by necessity; fools by heavenly compulsion.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): King Lear. Act i. Sc. 2.

We give to necessity the praise of virtue.

Quintilian (42-118 a d): Institutiones Oratoriae, i. 8, 14.