“Poetry is produced not by the mere caprice of pleasure, but by natural necessity. It is the primary activity of the human mind.”

“Poetry merely descriptive of nature, however vivid, no longer seems enough for me, there has to be added to it, the human judgement, the human evaluation.”

John Gould Fletcher (1886–1950) American writer

“Happiness is not mere pleasure, not the outcome of wealth. It is the result of active work rather than passive enjoyment of pleasure.”

Robert Baden-Powell (1857–1941) lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, founder and Chief Scout of the Scout Movement

“Religion is the dream of the human mind. But even in dreams we do not find ourselves in emptiness or in heaven, but on earth, in the realm of reality; we only see real things in the entrancing splendor of imagination and caprice, instead of in the simple daylight of reality and necessity.”

Ludwig Feuerbach book The Essence of Christianity

“Most of our 'pleasure' activities appear to be substitutes for the natural sensory pleasures of touching.”

James W. Prescott (1930) American psychologist

“Companies die because their managers focus on the economic activity of producing goods and services, and they forget that their organizations' true nature is that of a community of humans.”

Arie de Geus (1930) Dutch businessman

“realities of our own countries rather than catching up with the western economic models, [Bhatt urged] the people to follow a principle which ensures six basic necessities- food, shelter, clothing, primary education, primary healthcare and primary banking- are available within a 100 mile distance. If these necessities are locally produced and consumed, we will have the growth of a new holistic economy.”

Ela Bhatt (1933) founder of the Self-Employed Women's Association of India (SEWA)

“Travel is a caprice in childhood, a passion in youth, a necessity in manhood, and an elegy in old age.”

José Rizal (1861–1896) Filipino writer, ophthalmologist, polyglot and nationalist

“In general, "historical necessity" turns out to be merely a name for human stupidity.”

Nicolás Gómez Dávila (1913–1994) Colombian writer and philosopher

“Self-expression is the dominant necessity of human nature.”

Уильям Винтер (1836–1917)