I don't think necessity is the mother of invention—invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.

About Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan, Lady Mallowan (née Miller, 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976), usually known by her first married name, Agatha Christie, was an English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short-story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot (with the novel...

More quotations from Agatha Christie

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.

—Agatha Christie

habits

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming… suddenly you find—at the age of 50, say—that a whole new life has opened before you.

—Agatha Christie

age

If I had kept all these things neatly sorted and filed and labelled, it would save me a lot of trouble. However, it is a pleasure sometimes, when looking vaguely through a pile of old note-books to find something scribbled down, as: Possible plot—do it yourself—girl and not really sister—August—with a kind of sketch of a plot. What it's all about I can't remember now; but it often stimulates me, if not to write that identical plot, at least to write something else.

—Agatha Christie in An Autobiography

writing organization piles plot

It is a curious thought, but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.

—Agatha Christie in An Autobiography

love ridiculousness

A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity; it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.

—Agatha Christie

love law mother child pity

More quotations tagged with “invention”

I just invent, then wait until man comes around to needing what I've invented.

—R. Buckminster Fuller

invention need ingenuity

We owe to the Middle Ages the two worst inventions of humanity—romantic love and gunpowder.

—André Maurois

love history invention gunpowder

Do you realize if it weren't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight?

—Al Boliska

humor innovation television invention Thomas Edison

Invention is the mother of necessity.

—Thorstein Veblen

necessity invention

Man has to suffer. When he has no real afflictions, he invents some.

—Jose Marti

suffering worry invention afflictions

History

11 Jul 2015 Added
26 Oct 2026 Wording changed

Previous wording

I don't think necessity is the mother of invention - invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.