Quotes about need
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“The difference between slaves in Roman and Ottoman days and today’s employees is that slaves did not need to flatter their boss.”

Nassim Nicholas Taleb book The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

Source: The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010), p. 26

“Men need some kind of external activity, because they are inactive within.”

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German philosopher

Men

“All you need is love.”

John Lennon (1940–1980) English singer and songwriter

Love

“As for the goddess’s answer, I did not care. I would have no need of her. I did not plan to live after he was gone.”

Madeline Miller book The Song of Achilles

Source: The Song of Achilles

“We teach best what we most need to learn.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
Variant: You teach best what you most need to learn.
Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Learning

“I need sex for a clear complexion, but I'd rather do it for love.”

Joan Crawford (1904–1977) American actress

Source: My Way of Life

Love, Sex

“Parting is all we know of Heaven,
and all we need of Hell.”

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) American poet

Hell, Parting

“You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline - it helps if you have some kind of football team, or some nuclear weapons, but in the very least you need a beer.”

Frank Zappa (1940–1993) American musician, songwriter, composer, and record and film producer

Variant: You can't be a Real Country unless you have a BEER and an airline — it helps if you have some kind of a football team or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.

Beer, Help, Football, Country

“A man who can't bear to share his habits is a man who needs to quit them.”

Stephen King The Dark Tower

Source: The Dark Tower

“I wish I wasn’t a girl who needed so much but a little free creature that slept in deserts and ran on clouds and lived on lilies.”

Francesca Lia Block (1962) American children's writer

Girl

“When you reach out to hurting people, that’s when God is going to make sure your needs are supplied. When you focus on being a blessing, God makes sure that you are always blessed in abundance.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

God, People, Hurt

“Work like you don't need the money. Dance like no one is watching. And love like you've never been hurt.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Love, Money, Dance, Hurt

“That's what this country needs -- more books!”

Christopher Morley (1890–1957) American journalist, novelist, essayist and poet

Books, Country

“I need silence, and to be alone and to go out, and to save one hour
to consider what has happened to my world, what death has done to my
world.”

Virginia Woolf book The Waves

Source: The Waves

Death, World, Silence

“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.”

Richard Bach (1936) American spiritual writer

Illusions : The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah (1977)
Source: Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Happy, Problem

“Rumour is information distilled so finely that it can filter through anything. It does not need doors and windows -- sometimes it does not need people. It can exist free and wild, running from ear to ear without ever touching lips.”

Terry Pratchett (1948–2015) English author

People

“You have everything you need for complete peace and total happiness right now.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Peace, Happiness

“The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind.”

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American author and poet

Change

“Jesus insisted that the greatest ritual service is the service of human need. It is an odd thing to think that, with the possible exception of that day in the synagogue at Nazareth, we have no evidence that Jesus ever conducted a ‘church’ service in all his life on earth, but we have abundant evidence that he fed the hungry and comforted the sad and cared for the sick. Christian service is not the service of any liturgy or ritual; it is the service of human need. Christian service is not monastic retreat; it is involvement in all the tragedies and problems and demands of the human situation.”

William Barclay (1907–1978) Church of Scotland minister and academic

Source: The Gospel of Matthew: Vol. 2, Chapters 11-28

Life, Sadness, Problem, Thinking

“Words are tears that have been written down. Tears are words that need to be shed. Without them, joy loses all its brilliance and sadness has no end.”

Paulo Coelho book Aleph

Source: Aleph

Sadness, Tear, Joy

“God lives in the place of praise. If we want to be where He is, we need to go to His address.”

Nancy Leigh DeMoss (1958) American radio host

God

“People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Variant: People are very fond of giving away what they need most themselves. It is what I call the depth of generosity.
Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

People

“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.”

Lois Lowry book The Giver

Variant: The worse part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.
Source: The Giver

Pain, Memory, Parting, Loneliness

“You can't always get what you want, but if you really need something, you usually find it.”

Keith Richards (1943) British rock musician, member of The Rolling Stones

“Fairness does not mean everyone gets the same. Fairness means everyone gets what they need.”

Rick Riordan book The Red Pyramid

Source: The Red Pyramid

“If I need you I'll give you a signal.'
'What signal?'
'I'll imitate the scream of a terrified little girl”

Jim Butcher (1971) American author

Girl

“but what should we do when the highborn and wealthy take to crime? Indeed, if a poor man will spend a year in prison for stealing out of hunger, how high would the gallows need to be to hang the rich man who breaks the law out of greed?”

Terry Pratchett book Snuff

Source: Snuff

Hunger, Law

“He who has the truth at his heart need never fear the want of persuasion on his tongue.”

John Ruskin book The Stones of Venice

Volume III, chapter II, section 99.
The Stones of Venice (1853)
Source: The Stones of Venice: Volume I. The Foundations

Truth, Fear, Heart

“And our wise Father in heaven knows when we're going to need things too. Don't run out ahead of Him.”

Corrie ten Boom book The Hiding Place

Source: The Hiding Place

“A visiting pastor at our church in Plains once told a story about a priest from New Orleans. Father Flanagan’s parish lay in the central part of the city, close to many taverns. One night he was walking down the street and saw a drunk thrown out of a pub. The man landed in the gutter, and Father Flanagan quickly recognized him as one of his parishioners, a fellow named Mike. Father Flanagan shook the dazed man and said, “Mike!” Mike opened his eyes and Father Flanagan said, “You’re in trouble. If there is anything I can do for you, please tell me what it is.ℍ “Well, Father,” Mike replied, “I hope you’ll pray for me.” “Yes,” the priest answered, “I’ll pray for you right now.” He knelt down in the gutter and prayed, “Father, please have mercy on this drunken man.ℍ At this, a startled Mike woke up fully and said, “Father, please don’t tell God I’m drunk.ℍ Sometimes we don’t feel much of a personal relationship between God and ourselves, as though we have a secret life full of failures and sins that God knows nothing about. We want to involve God only when we plan to give thanks or when we’re in trouble and need help. But the rest of our lives, we’d rather keep to ourselves.”

Jimmy Carter (1924) American politician, 39th president of the United States (in office from 1977 to 1981)

Source: Through the Year with Jimmy Carter: 366 Daily Meditations from the 39th President

Life, God, Secret, Hope

“The ego says, ‘I shouldn’t have to suffer,’ and that thought makes you suffer so much more. It is a distortion of the truth, which is always paradoxical. The truth is that you need to say yes to suffering before you can transcend it.”

Eckhart Tolle (1948) German writer

Truth, Suffering

“He had the kind of real deep tan that rich people spent ages trying to achieve with expensive holidays and bits of tinfoil, when really all you need to do to obtain one is work your arse off in the open air everyday.”

Terry Pratchett book Equal Rites

Source: Equal Rites

People, Age, Holiday

“I need to know that wherever I end up, in the stars or in the gutter, you’re along for the ride.”

Tiffanie DeBartolo (1970) American writer

Source: How to Kill a Rock Star

Star

“Mere animals couldn’t possibly manage to act like this. You need to be a human being to be really stupid.”

Terry Pratchett book Pyramids

Source: Pyramids

Stupidity, Animals

“Never explain — your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyhow.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

The Motto Book (1907).
Variant: Never explain — your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyhow.

“this satsangh?’ You just drop that. You don’t have to get anything, okay? You don’t have to benefit from this. Just waste half a day and go. (Laughter) Really. ‘What should I get out of my meditation?’ Nothing. Just waste fifteen-twenty minutes every day. So do not meditate; just learn to waste some time. Nothing needs to happen. This is not about resting; this is not about becoming healthy; this is not about becoming enlightened; this is not about reaching heaven. All this is just wasting time. When you are not trying to be anything, not trying to get anywhere, you are being.”

Sadhguru (1957) Yogi, mystic, visionary and humanitarian

Source: Himalayan Lust

Laughter, Learning, Time

“I've learned that no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with.”

Andy Rooney (1919–2011) writer, humorist, television personality

Life, Learning

“The world order needs a major overhaul.”

George Soros (1930) Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist

Source: The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror

World

“Never make excuses. Your friends don't need them and your foes won't believe them.”

John Wooden (1910–2010) American basketball coach

Source: Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court

“I am content; that is a blessing greater than riches; and he to whom that is given need ask no more.”

Henry Fielding book Joseph Andrews

Book II, Ch. 14
Joseph Andrews (1742)

“Really! Between you and Eragon, I seem to spend most of my time among the Varden healing people to silly to realize they need to avoid getting chopped into tiny little pieces”

Christopher Paolini book Brisingr

Source: Brisingr

People, Time

“Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from.”

Seth Godin (1960) American entrepreneur, author and public speaker

Life

“You have to live with the people to know their needs, and you have to live with God to know how to solve them.”

John C. Maxwell (1947) American author, speaker and pastor

God, People

“It must be awful to feel you're not needed.”

Anne Frank (1929–1945) victim of the Holocaust and author of a diary

Source: The Diary of a Young Girl

Feeling

“Divine love always has met and always will meet every human need.”

Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) religious leader

Love

“If you want a definition of what a coward is, it’s needing to push a whole class of people down so that you can walk on top of them.”

Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) Feminist writer

People

“I need not hate any man; he cannot hurt me. I need not flatter any man; he has nothing to give me.”

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English writer

Hate, Hurt

“The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off.”

Robert Hand (1942) American astrologer and writer

Deep, Feeling

“Nothing so needs reforming as other people's habits.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

People

“One of the most poisonous of all Satan’s whispers is simply, “Things will never change.” That lie kills expectation, trapping our heart forever in the present. To keep desire alive and flourishing, we must renew our vision for what lies ahead. Things will not always be like this. Jesus has promised to “make all things new.” Eye has not seen, ear has not heard all that God has in store for his lovers, which does not mean “we have no clue so don’t even try to imagine,” but rather, you cannot outdream God. Desire is kept alive by imagination, the antidote to resignation. We will need imagination, which is to say, we will need hope.”

John Eldredge

Source: The Sacred Romance Drawing Closer To The Heart Of God

God, Lie, Hope, Imagination

“Human beings of any age need to approve of themselves; the bad times in history come when they cannot.”

Barbara W. Tuchman (1912–1989) American historian and author

Source: A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Age, History, Time

“The first lesson to learn is to resign oneself to the little difficulties in life, not to hit out at everything one comes up against. If one were able to manage this one would not need to cultivate great power; even one's presence would be healing.”

Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882–1927) Indian Sufi

Life, Learning

“Souls are like athletes, that need opponents worthy of them, if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers, and rewarded according to their capacity.”

Thomas Merton book The Seven Storey Mountain

Source: The Seven Storey Mountain

Soul

“If you were going to be successful in the world of crime, you needed a reputation for honesty.”

Terry Pratchett book Feet of Clay

Source: Feet of Clay

World, Success

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

Motivational, Beauty, Wise, Deep

“You don’t need scores of suitors. You need only one… if he’s the right one.”

Louisa May Alcott book Little Women

Source: Little Women

“The librarians were mysterious. It was said they could tell what book you needed just by looking at you, and they could take your voice away with a word.”

Terry Pratchett book Wintersmith

Source: Wintersmith

Books

“If you’ll dare to take your mind off your troubles, get your mind off your own needs and, instead, seek to be a blessing to other people, God will do more for you than you could even ask or think.”

Joel Osteen (1963) American televangelist and author

Source: Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential

God, People, Thinking

“Sometimes - history needs a push.”

Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) Russian politician, led the October Revolution

History

“Suddenly for no earthly reason I felt immensely sorry for him and longed to say something real, something with wings and a heart, but the birds I wanted settled on my shoulders and head only later when I was alone and not in need of words.”

Vladimir Nabokov book The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

Source: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

Bird, Heart

“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals… They are not our brethren; they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life…”

Henry Beston (1888–1968) American writer

Source: The Outermost House: A Year of Life On The Great Beach of Cape Cod

Life, Animals

“Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

"The Transcendent Function" http://books.google.com/books?id=L3bsAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Man+needs+difficulties+they+are+necessary+for+health%22&pg=PA73#v=onepage ("Die Transzendente Funktion") (1916) <br class="br">Volume 8: Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche, The Collected Works of C. G. Jung (1969)

Health

“A man's dignity isn't measured by the people he has around him when he's at the peak of his success, but by his ability not to forget those who helped him when his need was greatest.”

Paulo Coelho book The Winner Stands Alone

Source: The Winner Stands Alone

People, Success, Help, Forgetting

“The Auditors fluttered anxiously. And, as always happens in their species when something goes radically wrong and needs fixing instantly, they settled down to try to work how who was to blame.”

Terry Pratchett book Hogfather

Source: Hogfather

“Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don't live in a world all of your own.”

Albert Schweitzer (1875–1965) French-German physician, theologian, musician and philosopher

World

“And those who only know the non-platonic love have no need to talk of tragedy. In such love there can be no sort of tragedy.”

Leo Tolstoy book Anna Karenina

Source: Anna Karenina

Love

“We don’t need any sort of religious orientation to lead a life that is ethical, compassionate & kind.”

Sharon Salzberg (1952) American writer

Source: The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

Life

“When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.”

George Carlin (1937–2008) American stand-up comedian

“I don't need a guarantee if I have you.”

Kristin Cast book Hunted

Source: Hunted

“If the future is to remain open and free, we need people who can tolerate the unknown, who will not need the support of completely worked out systems or traditional blueprints from the past.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

People, Support, Past, Future

“Women always need other women to lean on. They become friends in order to hate each other better. The more they hate each other, the more inseparable they become.”

Herta Müller book The Land of Green Plums

Source: The Land of Green Plums

Women, Hate

“You need to read more science fiction. Nobody who reads science fiction comes out with this crap about the end of history”

Iain Banks (1954–2013) Scottish writer

History, Science, Reading

“The thing about getting older is that you don't need everything to be possible any more, you just need things to be certain.”

Monica Ali (1967) British writer and novelist

Source: Brick Lane

“Keep your dreams, you never know when you might need them.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Shadow of the Wind

Source: The Shadow of the Wind

Dreams

“Action is movement with intelligence. The world is filled with movement. What the world needs is more conscious movement, more action.”

B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014) Indian yoga teacher and scholar

Source: Light on Life

World, Intelligence

“Everything terrible is something that needs our love.”

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875–1926) Austrian poet and writer

Love

“Because it proves that you don't need much to change the entire world for the better. You can start with the most ordinary ingredients. You can start with the world you've got.”

Catherine Ryan Hyde (1955) American writer

Source: Pay It Forward

World, Change

“Never make your home in a place. Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You'll find what you need to furnish it- memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things. That way it will go with you wherever you journey.”

Tad Williams (1957) novelist

Source: Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, The Dragonbone Chair (1988), Chapter 42, “Beneath the Uduntree” (p. 718).
Context: “Never make your home in a place,” the old man had said, too lazy in the spring warmth to do more than wag a finger. “Make a home for yourself inside your own head. You’ll find what you need to furnish it—memory, friends you can trust, love of learning, and other such things.” Morgenes had grinned. “That way it will go with you wherever you journey. You’ll never lack for a home—unless you lose your head, of course...”

Love, Way, Home, Learning

“In all our contacts it is probably the sense of being really needed and wanted which gives us the greatest satisfaction and creates the most lasting bond.”

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American politician, diplomat, and activist, and First Lady of the United States

Sense

“Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.”

Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) American politician, 40th president of the United States (in office from 1981 to 1989)

Money

“You don't need to travel, laughter is an instant vacation”

Milton Berle (1908–2002) American comedian and actor

Variant: Laughter is an instant vacation.

Travel, Laughter

“A true symbol appears only when there is a need to express what thought cannot think or what is only divined or felt.”

C.G. Jung (1875–1961) Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist who founded analytical psychology

Thinking, Appearance

“I need to stop fantasizing about running away to some other life and start figuring out the one I have.”

Holly Black book The Darkest Part of the Forest

Source: The Darkest Part of the Forest

Life

“One of the oldest human needs is having someone to wonder where you are when you don't come home at night.”

Margaret Mead (1901–1978) American anthropologist

Attributed in The Quotable Woman (1991) by the Running Press, p. 53
1990s

Home, Night

“Before I could cry or scream I whirled around and stalked to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me.
I hope they all drown.

"Zoey your mother and I need to speak with you."
Great. Clearly they didn't drown.”

P. C. Cast book Marked

Source: Marked

Hope, Cry

“Every child, every person needs to know that they are a source of joy; every child, every person, needs to be celebrated. Only when all of our weaknesses are accepted as part of our humanity can our negative, broken self-images be transformed.”

Jean Vanier (1928–2019) Canadian humanitarian

Source: Becoming Human

Joy, Parting, Personality

“But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

“To be successful you need friends and to be very successful you need enemies.”

Sidney Sheldon book The Other Side of Midnight

Source: The Other Side of Midnight

Success

“No good friends, no bad friends; only people you want, need to be with. People who build their houses in your heart.”

Stephen King book It

Source: It (1986), Ch. 16 : Eddie's Bad Break, §8
Context: Maybe, he thought, there aren't any such things as good friends or bad friends — maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely. Maybe they're always worth being scared for, and hoping for, and living for. Maybe worth dying for, too, if that's what has to be. No good friends. No bad friends. Only people you want, need to be with; people who build their houses in your heart.

People, Heart, Housing

“People who didn't need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn't need people.”

Terry Pratchett book Maskerade

Source: Maskerade

People