Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Necessity
Necessity—thou best of peacemakers,
As well as surest prompter of invention.
Scott.—Peveril of the Peak, Chap. XXVI.
Necessity invented stools,
Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs,
And luxury the accomplish’d sofa last.
Cowper.—The Task, Book I. Line 86.
1.She must lie here on mere necessity.
2.Necessity will make us all forsworn.
Shakespeare.—Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act I. Scene 1.
Necessity’s sharp pinch.
Shakespeare.—King Lear, Act II. Scene 4.
I’d rather dwell in my necessity.
Shakespeare.—Merchant of Venice, Act I. Scene 3.
Orpheus, who found no remedy,
Made virtue of necessity.
King.—Orpheus and Eurydice, Line 193.
To maken virtue of necessity.
Chaucer.—The Knight’s Tale, Line 3044.
Are you content to be our general?
To make a virtue of necessity,
And live, as we do, in this wilderness?
Shakespeare.—Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. Scene 1.