100+ Unnecessary Quotes | InspiringQuotes.us

source: Attributed to Emile Durkheim in "Readings in Renewing American Civilization" edited by Jeffrey A. Eisenach and Albert Stephen Hanser (p. 54), 1993.

topic: Law, Lawyer, Unnecessary

When morals are sufficient, law is unnecessary; when morals are insufficient, law is unenforceable.

- Emile Durkheim

topic: Law, Moral, Unnecessary

I could have been more famous if I did all the glitzy things, but celebrity always seemed so unnecessary.

- Enya

source: "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

topic: Unnecessary

When struck by a thunderbolt it is unnecessary to consult the Book of Dates as to the precise meaning of the omen.

- Ernest Bramah

source: Ernest Bramah (2016). “The Wallet of Kai Lung”, p.15, Ernest Bramah

topic: Book, Unnecessary, Thunderbolts, Omen

A word to the wise is -- unnecessary.

- Evan Esar

topic: Wise, Wisdom, Unnecessary

The incompetent leading the unwilling to do the unnecessary.

- Evan Wright

source: Evan Wright (2005). “Generation Kill”, p.23, Penguin

topic: Unnecessary

When a system of oppression has become institutionaliz ed it is unnecessary for individuals to be oppressive

- Florynce Kennedy

topic: Unnecessary, Oppression, Individual

I never took hallucinogenic drugs because I never wanted my consciousness expanded one unnecessary iota.

- Fran Lebowitz

topic: Drug, Unnecessary, Consciousness, Hallucinogenic Drugs

A committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling to do the unnecessary.

- Fred Allen

topic: Work, Groups, Unnecessary, Unwilling, Unprepared

The world is not fair. If you persist in presuming it is, you will create a lot of unnecessary misery for yourself.

- Fred Green

topic: World, Misery, Unnecessary, Presuming

Changes are not only possible and predictable, but to deny them is to be an accomplice to one's own unnecessary vegetation.

- Gail Sheehy

topic: Change, Unnecessary, Deny, Vegetation, Accomplices

I felt really compromised. I think legal marriage is unnecessary and I would not have formalised the relationship [with husband Peter Davis] except for going into Parliament. I have always railed against it privately.

- Helen Clark

topic: Husband, Thinking, Unnecessary

A perfectionist is someone who finishes the backside of a drawer, which I consider completely unnecessary.

- Helmut Krone

topic: Unnecessary, Perfectionist, Drawers, Backsides

Be true to the best you know. This is your high ideal. If you do your best, you cannot do more. Do your best every day and your life will gradually expand into satisfying fullness. Cultivate the habit of doing one thing at a time with quiet deliberateness. Always allow yourself a sufficient margin of time in which to do your work well. Frequently examine your working methods to discover and eliminate unnecessary tension. Aim at poise, repose, and self-control. The relaxed worker accomplishes most.

- Horatio Dresser

topic: Self, Quiet, Unnecessary, Poise, One Thing At A Time

Government is an unnecessary evil.

- Jeff Berwick

source: "Jeff Berwick: Systematic Market Crash to Occur on September 13th, 2015". Interview with Collin Kettell, www.kitco.com. June 2, 2015.

topic: Government, Evil, Unnecessary

But if capitalism had built up science as a productive force, the very character of the new mode of production was serving to make capitalism itself unnecessary.

- John Desmond Bernal

source: John Desmond Bernal (1952). “Marx and science”

topic: Character, Unnecessary, Force

Once admit that we have the right to inflict unnecessary suffering and you destroy the very basis of human society.

- John Galsworthy

topic: Animal, Suffering, Unnecessary, Animal Suffering, Unnecessary Suffering

Life forces enough final decisions on us. We should have the sense to avoid as many of the unnecessary ones as we can.

- John Irving

topic: Decision, Finals, Unnecessary

Politics sometimes is not only unnecessary but also unnecessary complicated.

- Jonas Jonasson

topic: Sometimes, Unnecessary, Complicated

One should always avoid unnecessary unhappiness. Especially if one is an immortal. They taught us that in school.

- Kage Baker

source: Kage Baker (2005). “In the Garden of Iden”, p.244, Macmillan

topic: School, Taught, Unnecessary

Execution as punishment is barbaric and unnecessary.

- Kate Mulgrew

source: Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

topic: Punishment, Execution, Unnecessary, Barbaric

We all owe life a death, an inevitable death which we can meet. But the unnecessary death that wastes life denies all consolation.

- Laura Bohannan

topic: Death, Waste, Unnecessary, Inevitable Death

Real wisdom is not the knowledge of everything, but the knowledge of which things in life are necessary, which are less necessary, and which are completely unnecessary to know.

- Leo Tolstoy

source: Leo Tolstoy (2010). “A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul, Written and Se”, p.88, Simon and Schuster

topic: Real, Learning, Unnecessary, Real Wisdom

In the realm of Nature there is nothing purposeless, trivial, or unnecessary

- Maimonides

topic: Unnecessary, Realms

Most of what we say and do is unnecessary: remove the superfluity, and you will have more time and less bother. So in every case one should prompt oneself: 'Is this, or is it not, something necessary?' And the removal of the unnecessary should apply not only to actions but to thoughts also: then no redundant actions either will follow.

- Marcus Aurelius

topic: Time, Action, Unnecessary

Politeness only teaches us to save others from unnecessary pain.... You are not bound by politeness to tell any falsehoods.

- Maria Edgeworth

topic: Pain, Unnecessary, Teach

Photos always seem to exist as sort of stuffy, unnecessary antiques that we put in a drawer â€” unless we take them out, put them in current dialogue, and give them relevance.

- Mark Klett

topic: Giving, Antiques, Unnecessary

Until we respect bin Laden, we are going to die in numbers that are probably unnecessary.

- Michael Scheuer

topic: Respect, Numbers, Unnecessary

The elimination of unnecessary collateral requirements on foreign insurers and reinsurers is not only beneficial for the individual companies, but for the industry as a whole.

- Mike McGavick

topic: Requirements, Unnecessary, Individual

Poverty is unnecessary.

- Muhammad Yunus

topic: Poverty, Unnecessary, Finance

I feel myself driven towards an end that I do not know. As soon as I shall have reached it, as soon as I shall become unnecessary, an atom will suffice to shatter me. Till then, not all the forces of mankind can do anything against me.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

topic: Grieving, Atoms, Unnecessary

When life's flight is over, and we unload our cargo at the other end, the fellow who got rid of unnecessary weight will have the most valuable cargo to present the Lord.

- Nate Saint

topic: Weight, Flight, Unnecessary, Cargo

Art is the elimination of the unnecessary.

- Pablo Picasso

topic: Art, Simplicity, Unnecessary, Cubism, Art And Creativity

Unnecessary possessions are unnecessary burdens.

- Peace Pilgrim

source: Peace Pilgrim (1981). “Steps Toward Inner Peace”, p.15, Friends of Peace PIlgrim

topic: Unnecessary, Burden, Possession, Great Freedom, Minimalist

starvation is a shame and disgrace to the world and totally unnecessary in modern times.

- Pearl S. Buck

topic: World, Unnecessary, Hunger, Modern Times, Starvation

Design has become the cover for unnecessary consumption.

- Peter Saville

topic: Design, Unnecessary, Consumption

Conversation like television set on honeymoon... unnecessary.

- Peter Sellers

source: "Fictional character: Mr. Wang". "Murder by Death", 1976.

topic: Television, Unnecessary, Conversation, Honeymoon

Everything I have designed is absolutely unnecessary,

- Philippe Starck

source: "Philippe Starck and "design is dead"". DIE ZEIT Intreview, www.cnet.com. April 8, 2008.

topic: Unnecessary

I don't like people waiting on me. I feel it is an unnecessary expense.

- Randeep Hooda

topic: People, Waiting, Unnecessary

Art is what is unnecessary, but necessary only to that artist.

- Randy Sanders

topic: Art, Artist, Unnecessary

We are ignorant of things necessary, because we learn things superfluous and unnecessary

- Richard Baxter

source: Richard Baxter, William Orme (1830). “The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter: With a Life of the Author, and a Critical Examination of His Writings”, p.167

topic: Ignorant, Unnecessary, Christianity

Your stew, so long deferred, stands finally extra causas. Greet it as your fellow creature. It is as deliciously unnecessary as you are.

- Robert Farrar Capon

topic: Long, Unnecessary, Stew

What is necessary is possible, what we want is expensive. What is unnecessary is unlikely.

- Robert Fripp

topic: Want, Unnecessary, Unlikely

Waging an unnecessary war is a grave mistake.

- Scott McClellan

source: Scott McClellan (2008). “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception”, p.13, PublicAffairs

topic: Mistake, War, Unnecessary, Waging War, Unnecessary War

Theology is unnecessary.

- Stephen Hawking

topic: Unnecessary, Theology

Sometimes I'm very impatient. I also feel the need to please everyone, which is unnecessary and impossible.

- Steve Nash

topic: Needs, Impossible, Unnecessary

Religion is not an imitation of Jesus or Mohammed. Even if an imitation is good, it is never genuine. Be not an imitation of Jesus, but be Jesus, You are quite as great as Jesus, Buddha, or anybody else. If we are not ... we must struggle and be. I would not be exactly like Jesus. It is unnecessary that I should be born a Jew.

- Swami Vivekananda

topic: Jesus, Struggle, Unnecessary

Unnecessary laws are not good laws, but traps for money.

- Thomas Hobbes

source: Thomas Hobbes (2008). “Leviathan”, p.256, Simon and Schuster

topic: Freedom, Law, Unnecessary

All of our technology is completely unnecessary to a happy life.

- Tom Hodgkinson

source: "Shakespeare had no BlackBerry and Aristotle mananged without an iPhone" by writes Tom Hodgkinson, www.theguardian.com. November 10, 2009.

topic: Happy Life, Technology, Unnecessary

Eliminate the unnecessary and focus on the substance.

- Tommy Ramone

topic: Focus, Substance, Unnecessary

The possession of unnecessary implements makes difficult the collection of taxes and dues and tends to foment uprisings.

- Toyotomi Hideyoshi

topic: War, Uprising, Unnecessary

Art is elimination of the unnecessary.

- Waldo Salt

topic: Art, Crafts, Unnecessary

While sincerity and over-anxiety can spoil a picture, through superfluous elaboration and unnecessary correction, the carelessness that would leave it in an unfinished state is even more reprehensible.

- Walter J. Phillips

topic: Anxiety, Finishing, Unnecessary, Superfluous

I've always believed that parents are not for leaning upon, but rather exist to make leaning unnecessary.

- Wayne Dyer

topic: Parent, Unnecessary, Always Believe

To achieve peace, it is crucial to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy that prevents peace processes from advancing.

- Widad Akrawi

topic: Unnecessary, Achieve, Process

Unnecessary customs live a brutally short life in America.

- Wilfrid Sheed

source: Wilfrid Sheed (1978). “The good word & other words”, Dutton Adult

topic: Short Life, America, Unnecessary

The government is best which makes itself unnecessary.

- Wilhelm von Humboldt

source: "Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern English and Foreign Sources". Book by James Wood, 1899.

topic: Government, Unnecessary

It's simply a tragedy that anyone today goes blind from glaucoma, when it's so unnecessary.

- Willard Scott

topic: Tragedy, Today, Unnecessary, Glaucoma

An audience is perhaps unnecessary to the soul-searching mystic, but it is vital to the magician, the maker of prodigies.

- Domenico Gnoli

source: Source: observer.com

topic: Soul, Unnecessary, Makers, Soul Searching

When we apply simplicity to our own lives, when we strip away the unnecessary, the extraneous from ourselves, we become more truly who we are, and as such we reveal the potential we were born to express.

- Jennifer Kavanagh

source: Jennifer Kavanagh (2011). “Simplicity Made Easy”, p.6, John Hunt Publishing

topic: Simplicity, Unnecessary

There is a tendency in my work toward minimalism, in terms of stripping away the unnecessary. I am seeking a tightly ordered gestalt, usually. I've always felt a strong affinity towards Mondrian's work. I understand the importance of those subtle planar and linear modulations he made in the course of building up the incredible visual tension in his work.

- Philip Taaffe

topic: Strong, Unnecessary, Incredibles

The sky is a free asset in design, and nothing unnecessary should be planted that takes away the sky.

- Rachel Lambert Mellon

topic: Sky, Design, Unnecessary

I think meaning is something that's really unnecessary in music, at least for me.

- Tim Rutili

topic: Thinking, Unnecessary

Iranian nuclear policy is transparent, and we have opened our facilities to United Nations inspectors. However, we will not abandon the great achievements of Iranian scientists. I too will not suspend uranium enrichment. However, I will attempt to avoid unnecessary tensions. We have a right to enrich uranium.

- Mir-Hossein Mousavi

source: Source: www.spiegel.de

topic: Achievement, Nuclear, Unnecessary, Uranium, Enrichment

Sometimes unnecessary roughness is necessary.

- Rodney Harrison

topic: Sometimes, Unnecessary, Roughness

The need for Government is the need for force; where force is unnecessary, there is no need for Government.

- Rose Wilder Lane

topic: Government, Needs, Unnecessary

I'm not 18 anymore, so I'm not into starting unnecessary beefs. It's tacky.

- Sasha Grey

topic: Tacky, Beef, Unnecessary

True happiness is born of letting go of what is unnecessary.

- Sharon Salzberg

source: FaceBook post by Sharon Salzberg from Oct 20, 2012

topic: Happiness, Letting Go, Unnecessary

Well, there is a contradiction in a sense. If you're making commercials which sell products which are unhealthy or which are unnecessary, I think that you are part of a system - I am part of a system which encourages people to buy things and do things which are not to their best interest. And to that extent you could say it was contradictory.

- Haskell Wexler

source: "Remembering Oscar-Winning Cinematographer Haskell Wexler". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. December 29, 201.

topic: Thinking, People, Unnecessary

My phone just auto-corrected my name to "Jamie unnecessary," instead of Jamie Lynn.

- Jamie Lynn Sigler

topic: Phones, Names, Unnecessary

Regret is unnecessary. Think before you act.

- William Shockley

topic: Regret, Thinking, Unnecessary, Think Before You Act

I think that systems that are based on employment are illogical and attempts to meet them create all sorts of unnecessary complexities.

- Kenneth Arrow

source: Source: www.minneapolisfed.org

topic: Thinking, Employment, Unnecessary

Currency trading is unnecessary, unproductive and totally immoral. It should be stopped.

- Mahathir Mohamad

topic: Unnecessary, Currency, Should

I don't believe in taking unnecessary risks, but a life without risk isn't worth living.

- Charles Lindbergh

topic: Believe, Risk, Unnecessary

Regulation of derivatives transactions that are privately negotiated by professionals is unnecessary.

- Alan Greenspan

source: Alan Greenspan's Testimony Before the Committee on Banking and Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives, www.federalreserve.gov. July 24, 1998.

topic: Regulation, Derivatives, Unnecessary

The peak efficiency of knowledge and strategy is to make conflict unnecessary.

- Sun Tzu

source: Sun Tzu (2005). “The Art of War”, p.5, Shambhala Publications

topic: Knowledge, Conflict, Unnecessary

If it is unnecessary to adjust the amount of expenditure to the means available, there is no limit to the spending of the great god State.

- Ludwig von Mises

source: Ludwig Von Mises (1974). “Planning for freedom, and twelve other essays and addresses”

topic: Mean, Limits, Unnecessary

I stay away from Speedos. That would cause me absolutely unnecessary publicity.

- Luke Evans

source: Source: www.elle.com

topic: Causes, Publicity, Unnecessary, Speedos

I’m going to carry you now,” he told her, “so we can move even faster. I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. Any response from you is unnecessary and unwelcome.

- Suzanne Brockmann

source: Suzanne Brockmann (2002). “Out of Control”, p.369, Ballantine Books

topic: Moving, Asking, Unnecessary

People comment on how you look, it's so unnecessary. I just wanted people to listen to what I have to say instead of focusing on anything else.

- Lykke Li

source: Source: pitchfork.com

topic: People, Looks, Unnecessary

America is constantly involved in unnecessary wars.

- Jimmy Carter

topic: War, America, Unnecessary, Unnecessary War

What’s the ONE Thing you can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?

- Gary W. Keller

source: "5 Executive Power Hacks to Rapidly Align Teams for Mission-Critical Challenges or Game-Changing Opportunities" by Beth Hand, www.huffingtonpost.com. July 3, 2017.

topic: Unnecessary, Easier, Can Do

A smattering of English is worse than useless; it is an unnecessary tax on our women.

- Mahatma Gandhi

source: Mahatma Gandhi (1965). “Collected Works”

topic: Useless, Language, Unnecessary

My favourite subject at school was avoiding unnecessary work.

- Prince Philip

topic: School, Unnecessary, Favourite

A man should remove not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for then superfluous activity will not follow.

- Marcus Aurelius

topic: Men, Unnecessary, Should

Man's role is uncertain, undefined, and perhaps unnecessary.

- Margaret Mead

source: Margaret Mead (1975). “Male and female: a study of the sexes in a changing world”, William Morrow & Co

topic: Men, Roles, Unnecessary, Undefined, Uncertain Future

Atheism, a term which will, I'm sure, eventually become as unnecessary as round-earthism.

- Daniel Dennett

topic: Atheism, Unnecessary, Term

I try to keep myself out of the unnecessary bullshit.

- Rakim

source: Source: halftimeonline.net

topic: Bullshit, Trying, Unnecessary

One of my favorite ideas is, never to keep an unnecessary soldier.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Ideas, Soldier, Unnecessary

No stile of writing is so delightful as that which is all pith, which never omits a necessary word, nor uses an unnecessary one.

- Thomas Jefferson

topic: Writing, Use, Unnecessary, Stiles

I'm afraid that reason will triumph and that the world will become a place where anyone who doesn't fit that will become unnecessary

- David Byrne

topic: Triumph, World, Unnecessary

... there has never been a period in history when there have been necessary killings which has not been instantly followed by a period when there have been unnecessary killings.

- Rebecca West

source: Rebecca West (1928). “The strange necessity: essays by Rebecca West”

topic: History, Unnecessary, Killing

I have fought against excessive spending my entire career. And I got plans to reduce and eliminate unnecessary and wasteful spending and if there's anybody here who thinks there aren't agencies of government where spending can be cut and their budgets slashed they have not spent a lot of time in Washington.

- John McCain

source: Source: www.nytimes.com

topic: Cutting, Thinking, Unnecessary

Run lean; avoid unnecessary expenses.

- Richard Branson

topic: Running, Survival, Unnecessary

Plastic bags are bad and for the most part unnecessary.

- David Suzuki

topic: Bags, Unnecessary, Plastic, Plastic Bags

For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary

- Diana Gabaldon

source: Diana Gabaldon (2015). “The Outlander Series Bundle: Books 1, 2, 3, and 4: Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn”, p.894, Delacorte Press

topic: Sweet Love, Love Is, Unnecessary, Outlander

Everybody starts with a clean slate only altered by unnecessary hate.

- Melanie Chisholm

source: Song: You Will See, Album: Beautiful Intentions, 2005

topic: Hate, Unnecessary, Clean, Clean Slate, Altered

When a fact can be demonstrated, force is unnecessary; when it cannot be demonstrated, force is infamous.

- Robert Green Ingersoll

source: Robert Green Ingersoll (1907). “The works of Robert G. Ingersoll”, p.101, Library of Alexandria

topic: Facts, Unnecessary, Infamous

Verily, the best of husbands hath many raw edges, and many unnecessary pleats in his temper, and many wrinkles in his disposition, which must be removed.

- Helen Rowland

source: Helen Rowland (2017). “The Sayings of Mrs. Solomon”, p.8, Litres