Practical Necessity Quotes

Tolstoi explains somewhere in his writings why, in his opinion, “Science for Science's sake” is an absurd conception. We cannot know all the facts, since they are practically infinite in number. We must make a selection. Is it not better to be guided by utility, by our practical, and more especially our moral, necessities?

I never think of what it's going to be like later. I only think in the present tense. The only time I think backwards is when I have to reissue something.

People understand that nuclear weapons cannot be used without indiscriminate effects on civilian populations. Such weapons have no legitimate place in our world. Their elimination is both morally right and a practical necessity in protecting humanity.

The Federal Reserve Board is indefensible in theory and indispensable in practice.

The fact is, every thinker, every philosopher, the moment he is forced to abandon his one-sided intellectual occupation by practical necessity, immediately returns to the general point of view of mankind.

I had to learn to sew when I was growing up, because nothing else fitted me.

When you have to deal with a beast, you have to treat him as a beast. It is most regrettable but nevertheless true.

I have always been making art from an early age but for nearly forty years did computer programming to earn a living. I bought a house and put my wife and three children through college. Now that diversion is over so I can finally paint full time.

But these realities will make themselves felt soon enough and while I am certainly not asking you to close your eyes to the experiences of earlier generations, I want to advise you not to conform too soon and to resist the pressure of practical necessity.

The subject of history is the gradual realization of all that is practically necessary.