# Necessity is the mother of invention



## Outsider

Does your language have an equivalent to this English saying? If so, please post it and add a literal translation.

For example, Portuguese has

_A necessidade aguça o engenho._​
which literally means

Necessity sharpens ingenuity.​
Thanks in advance for all replies.


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## apmoy70

In Greek we have something similar:
«Ἀνάγκα καὶ θεοί πείθονται», a saying of Pittacus of Mytilene (7th century BC) that has survived in modern Greek and is used colloquially as a proverb. I'll give you its modern pronunciation:
An*a*ŋga ke θe*i* p*i*θonde
(lit. "Even gods cannot strive against necessity")


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## Outsider

Thank you again for your reply. However, I'm not sure that the proverb you cited means what I intended. The sense of the English saying is that _being faced with problems improves one's inventiveness_.


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## Frank78

apmoy70 said:


> In Greek we have something similar:
> «Ἀνάγκα καὶ θεοί πείθονται», a saying of Pittacus of Mytilene (7th century BC) that has survived in modern Greek and is used colloquially as a proverb. I'll give you its modern pronunciation:
> An*a*ŋga ke θe*i* p*i*θonde
> (lit. "Even gods cannot strive against necessity")



I thought "*Necessity is the mother of invention"* was said by Plato in his Politeia.

In German:
"Notwendigkeit ist die Mutter der Erfindung"


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## jazyk

It turns out I wasn't wrong when I thought we had the same thing in Portuguese. I just checked and it is indeed A necessidade é a mãe de toda invenção. It's the first time I've encountered Outsider's version.


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## sakvaka

In *Finnish*:  _Välttämättömyys on keksintöjen äiti. 
_
According to some Finnish sources on Google, this was said by Jonathan Swift and Aesop


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## Frank06

Hi,

I can find a few variants:
Noodzaak is de moeder van uitvinding.
Noodzaak is de moeder van alle uitvindingen. 

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Trisia

The one that seems to me the most similar in Romanian is "Nevoia învață pe om" = _Necessity teaches a/the man_.


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## kitenok

Russian has something like this in the saying: 

*голь на выдумки хитра* [gol' na vydumki khitra]
~Hunger is clever at thinking things up


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## Encolpius

*Hungarian*: A szükség nagy úr. (Necessity is a bigwig.)


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## LucíaV

In Spain it would be:
"La necesidad es la madre de la invención." Which is literally the same as in English.
Or: "La necesidad es la madre de todos los inventos"

Also: "La necesidad aguza el ingenio". (Necessity sharpens the wits)
Regards


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## eafkuor

In Italian: _Il bisogno aguzza l'ingegno_


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## Pedro y La Torre

French: _La nécessité est la mère de l'invention_.


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## sokol

Frank78 said:


> In German:
> "Notwendigkeit ist die Mutter der Erfindung"


Well I must say I have never heard that one. (It is clear to me of course but I wouldn't consider it idiomatic; it might still be in Germany, in Austria I'd consider it unidiomatic.)

What we use is:

Not macht erfinderisch.


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## enoo

Pedro y La Torre said:


> French: _La nécessité est la mère de l'invention_.



Note that this is just a translation, and not an actual saying. (As far as I know, there's no equivalent saying in French).


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## Nanon

Pedro y La Torre said:


> French: _La nécessité est la mère de l'invention_.


This variant is literal (some sources relate it to Plato, although according to apmoy70 the author is Pittacus from Mytilene). There is another, maybe more idiomatic, saying: _"Nécessité fait loi"_ (literally: necessity creates [a] law, i.e. compels you to do something or to be creative).


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## bibax

Czech:

Nutnost je matka pokroku. = Necessity is the mother of progress.

However, by far the most common variant is:

*Lenost je matka pokroku.* = Laziness is the mother of progress.


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## jazyk

This reminds me of the Portuguese saying

A preguiça é a mãe da pobreza. (Laziness is the mother of poverty.)


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## bibax

Probably, in the warm South laziness brings only poverty, in the chilly North laziness (along with necessity, of course) brings creativity.

But I am affraid that the Czech saying arose merely as a popular antithesis.


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## Pedro y La Torre

As regards French, I've also come across "_la nécessité est mère d’industrie_".


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## Outsider

Concerning the origin of this saying, I found the following in another site:



> When Socrates and Adeimantus discuss the origin of the State (and the nature of justice and injustice as they appear in the ideal State), Socrates makes two statements:
> " A State, I said, arises, as I conceive, out of the needs of mankind". . ."let us begin and create in idea a State; and yet the true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention."
> 
> [more details...]


So, although the saying seems to go back to Plato, he apparently did not use the words in their modern sense.


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## sakvaka

Outsider said:


> Concerning the origin of this saying, I found the following in another site:
> 
> So, although the saying seems to go back to Plato, he apparently did not use the words in their modern sense.



THE CROW AND THE PITCHER - a fable by Aesop:
[...] Necessity is the mother of invention*.

Aesop lived 620-560 BC, and Plato 428/427 BC – 348/347 BC. So, which was first? 

* source: 
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11339/11339-8.txt


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## sokol

sakvaka said:


> Aesop lived 620-560 BC, and Plato 428/427 BC – 348/347 BC. So, which was first? http://www.gutenberg.org/files/11339/11339-8.txt


Well, as far as I know so far it hasn't been established when Aesop lived exactly; we only know for sure that Aesop already was history at Herodot's times - but this should be sufficient here; Aesop certainly lived long before both Plato and Socrates.

However there's still a problem with The Crow and the Pitcher as, according to Wiki, the first written version is found in a version of the 2nd century (AD); we probably never will know wether the original version of this fable too had this saying - or wether it was edited in later.

But the origin of the saying isn't that important here, or is it?  What matters is that the fable's conclusion must have meant *something like *"necessity is the mother of invention", no matter what the actual wording was (which might have been changed later), and that it is likely that this fable was known to Plato.

(However, there's still a small chance that this specific fable actually wasn't by Aesop but later attributed to him  - but let's not go sophistic here.)


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## brtkrbzhnv

_Nöden är uppfinningarnas moder_
the-need/distress is the-inventions' mother


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## sakvaka

brtkrbzhnv said:


> _Nöden är uppfinningarnas moder_
> the-need/distress is the-inventions' mother



And this is Swedish, I suppose


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## Dr. Quizá

Spanish:

El hambre agudiza el ingenio.

(Hunger sharpens inventiveness).


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## Hutschi

German: (Die) Notwendigkeit ist die Mutter der Erfindung.
This is seldom used, however.

There are also other idioms with "die Mutter".
Very often used is:

Vorsicht ist die Mutter der Porzellankiste.
(literally: Carefulness is the mother of a case with chinas= better safe than sorry).


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## ilocas2

Serbian:

*nužnost je majka izuma* - necessity is mother of invention


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## Armas

sakvaka said:


> In *Finnish*:  _Välttämättömyys on keksintöjen äiti.
> _
> According to some Finnish sources on Google, this was said by Jonathan Swift and Aesop



More idiomatic: _Hätä keinot keksii_ "emergency invents the ways/means".


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