William Greenough Thayer Shedd (1820–1894) American theologian
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 267.
“Necessity is the theme and the inventress, the eternal curb and law of nature.”
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.
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Leonardo Da Vinci363
Italian Renaissance polymath 1452–1519Related quotes
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Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532–1564), Fifth Book (1564)
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“Law is mighty, mightier necessity.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe book Faust
Act I, A Spacious Hall
Faust, Part 2 (1832)
“Thus, where'er the drift of hazard
Seems most unrestrained to flow,
Chance herself is reined and bitted,
And the curb of law doth know.”
Sic quae permissis fluitare videtur habenis
Fors patitur frenos ipsaque lege meat.
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480) philosopher of the early 6th century
Poem I, lines 11-12; translation by H. R. James
The Consolation of Philosophy · De Consolatione Philosophiae, Book V
Hermann Hesse book The Glass Bead Game
The Glass Bead Game (1943)
Context: Under the shifting hegemony of now this, now that science or art, the Game of games had developed into a kind of universal language through which the players could express values and set these in relation to one another. Throughout its history the Game was closely allied with music, and usually proceeded according to musical and mathematical rules. One theme, two themes, or three themes were stated, elaborated, varied, and underwent a development quite similar to that of the theme in a Bach fugue or a concerto movement. A Game, for example, might start from a given astronomical configuration, or from the actual theme of a Bach fugue, or from a sentence out of Leibniz or the Upanishads, and from this theme, depending on the intentions and talents of the player, it could either further explore and elaborate the initial motif or else enrich its expressiveness by allusions to kindred concepts. Beginners learned how to establish parallels, by means of the Game's symbols, between a piece of classical music and the formula for some law of nature. Experts and Masters of the Game freely wove the initial theme into unlimited combinations.
“Necessity is the mistress and guardian of Nature.”
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath
The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), I Prolegomena and General Introduction to the Book on Painting
Variant: Necessity is the mistress and guardian of Nature.