
“Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a quality that decides between success and failure.”
1990s
Niklaus Wirth (1997) " A Few Words with Niklaus Wirth http://www.eptacom.net/pubblicazioni/pub_eng/wirth.html". Dr Carlo Pescio eds. June 1997.
“Elegance is not a dispensable luxury but a quality that decides between success and failure.”
1990s
“Give us the luxuries of life, and we will dispense with its necessaries.”
Quoted from Motley's conversation by his friend Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1858), ch. 6, p. 143.
"Down the River", p. 148
Desert Solitaire (1968)
“The luxuries of the present are the necessities of the future.”
Letter to Churchill, dated 16/1/1912, quoted in The World Crisis, Vol 1, 1911-14 (1923), Churchill, Thornton Butterworth (London), p. 139.
Context: The luxuries of the present are the necessities of the future. Our grandfathers never had a bath-room....
“Perfect humility dispenses with modesty.”
The Weight of Glory (1949)
Presidency (1977–1981), Farewell Address (1981)
Context: We live in a time of transition, an uneasy era which is likely to endure for the rest of this century. During the period we may be tempted to abandon some of the time-honored principles and commitments which have been proven during the difficult times of past generations. We must never yield to this temptation. Our American values are not luxuries, but necessities— not the salt in our bread, but the bread itself.
“Luxury is not a necessity to me, but beautiful and good things are.”
“Lifelong learning is no longer a luxury but a necessity for employment.”
Source: Disrupt You! (2015), p.64
“Take care of the luxuries and the necessities will take care of themselves.”