Unnecessary Quotes

• A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.

  Carl Reiner

  Nature, Winter, Weather

  72 Copy quote

• Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.

  Pablo Picasso

  Art, Simplicity, Elimination

  25 Copy quote

• Every word that is unnecessary only pours over the side of a brimming mind.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Writing, Editing, Mind

  7 Copy quote

• Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens.

  Peace Pilgrim

  Burden, Possession

  Peace Pilgrim (1981). “Steps Toward Inner Peace”, p.15, Friends of Peace PIlgrim

  30 Copy quote

  Show source

• The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

  Hans Hofmann

  Inspirational, Business, Mean

  1967 Search for the Real.

  96 Copy quote

  Show source

• Civilization is a limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities.

  Mark Twain

  Inspiration, Civilization, History

  "Mark Twain on Common Sense: Timeless Advice and Words of Wisdom from America's Most-Revered Humorist".

  74 Copy quote

  Show source

• A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

  Samuel Johnson

  Family, Forgiveness, Wise

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.278

  44 Copy quote

  Show source

• A mother is not a person to lean on, but a person to make leaning unnecessary.

  Dorothy Canfield Fisher

  Funny, Family, Mothers Day

  Her Son's Wife ch. 37 (1926)

  87 Copy quote

  Show source

• When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.

  Ezra Pound

  Business, Men, Two

  13 Copy quote

• Be discreet in all things, and so render it unnecessary to be mysterious about any.

  Duke of Wellington

  Inspirational, Unnecessary Things, Mysterious

  50 Copy quote

• Poverty is unnecessary.

  Muhammad Yunus

  Poverty, Finance

  "Muhammad Yunus, Banker to the World’s Poorest Citizens, Makes His Case". Interview with Linda O’Bryon, knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu. March 09, 2005.

  27 Copy quote

  Show source

• The 'good' mother, with her fixed smile, her rigidity, her goody-goody outlook, her obsession with unnecessary hygiene, is in fact a fool. It is the 'bad' mother, unafraid of a joke and a glass of wine, richly self-expressive, scornful of suburban values, who is, in reality, good.

  Rachel Cusk

  Mother, Wine, Reality

  50 Copy quote

• Awards are so unnecessary because I think we get so much out of our work just by doing it. The work is a reward in itself.

  Natalie Portman

  Thinking, Awards, Rewards

  17 Copy quote

• Now the thing is not to get into unnecessary quarrels by talking too much and not to indicate any weakness by talking too much; let our actions speak for themselves.

  Henry L. Stimson

  Talking, Weakness, Our Actions

  9 Copy quote

• One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.

  Bertrand Russell

  Respect, Humor, Public Opinion

  "The Conquest of Happiness".

  78 Copy quote

  Show source

• I thought then and I think now that the invasion of Iraq was unnecessary and unjust and I think the premises on which it was launched were false.

  Jimmy Carter

  Thinking, Iraq, Unjust

  "Former President Carter Addresses Faith, Justice, and Iraq War at Baptist Centenary" by Maria Mackay, www.christianpost.com. July 30, 2005.

  7 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  We live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities.

  Oscar Wilde

  Life, Truth, Age

  Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.819, GENERAL PRESS

  183 Copy quote

  Show source

• A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

  William Strunk, Jr.

  Writing, Should Have, Drawing

  The Elements of Style ch. 2 (1918)

  45 Copy quote

  Show source

• We can travel a long way in life and do many things, but our deepest happiness is not born from accumulating new experiences. it is born from letting go of what is unnecessary, and knowing ourselves to be always at home.

  Sharon Salzberg

  Life, Letting Go, Home

  FaceBook post by Sharon Salzberg from Sep 22, 2013

  59 Copy quote

  Show source

• Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.

  C. S. Lewis

  Friendship, Best Friend, Relationship

  155 Copy quote

• The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

  Desmond Tutu

  Memorial Day, Peace, Freedom

  68 Copy quote

• A drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

  William Strunk, Jr.

  Writing, Should Have, Drawing

  The Elements of Style ch. 2 (1918)

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens. If you have them, you have to take care of them! There is great freedom in simplicity of living. It is those who have enough but not too much who are the happiest.

  Peace Pilgrim

  Peace, Simplicity, Care

  36 Copy quote

• If the truth were self-evident, eloquence would be unnecessary.

  Marcus Tullius Cicero

  Truth, Self, Would Be

  5 Copy quote

• There's nothing wrong with a plan, but remember Von Moltke's famous dictum that no plan survives first contact with the enemy. The danger is a plan that seduces us into thinking failure is impossible and adaptation is unnecessary - a kind of ‘Titanic' plan, unsinkable (until it hits the iceberg).

  Tim Harford

  Thinking, Enemy, Firsts

  7 Copy quote