Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
—William Pitt
Awareness is not something that needs to be manufactured: when there is a gap, awareness enters into us. So awareness does not require a certain particular effort. Such an effort is unnecessary. Awareness is like a wind. If you open your doors and windows, it is bound to come in.
—Chögyam Trungpa in The Path is the Goal: A Basic Handbook of Buddhist Meditation
You can live without anything you weren't born with, and you can make it through on even half of that.
—Gloria Naylor
Any war that requires the suspension of reason as a necessity for support is a bad war.
—Norman Mailer
The superfluous, a very necessary thing.
—Voltaire