My steps have pressed the flowers,
That to the Muses' bowers
The eternal dews of Helicon have read more

My steps have pressed the flowers,
That to the Muses' bowers
The eternal dews of Helicon have given:
And trod the mountain height,
Where Science, young and bright,
Scans with poetic gaze the midnight-heaven.
Yet have I found no power to vie
With thine, severe necessity!

By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts read more

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 is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed read more

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

Necessity never made a good bargain.

It is in these useless and superfluous things that I am rich and
happy.

It is in these useless and superfluous things that I am rich and
happy.

Necessity is not an established fact, but an interpretation.

Necessity is not an established fact, but an interpretation.

Stern is the visage of necessity.
[Ger., Ernst ist der Anblick der Nothwendigkeit.]

Stern is the visage of necessity.
[Ger., Ernst ist der Anblick der Nothwendigkeit.]

Necessity--thou best of peacemakers,
As well as surest prompter of invention.

Necessity--thou best of peacemakers,
As well as surest prompter of invention.

Necessity makes even the timid brave.
[Lat., Necessitas etiam timidos fortes facit.]

Necessity makes even the timid brave.
[Lat., Necessitas etiam timidos fortes facit.]