Needs must when the devil drives
The proverb is similar to Necessity knows no law, but it is also as an excuse for not resisting temptation. 'Needs must' is used here without... Read more →
Proverbs starting with letter N
Necessity knows no law
The proverb could be used to justify the behaviour of a man who steals food to keep his wife and family from starving. As Cervantes wrote in Don... Read more →
Necessity is the mother of invention
Here 'mother' means something that gives rise to something else. If we do not really need a thing, the lack of it does not trouble us, but when... Read more →
The nearer the church, the farther from God
This proverb springs from the idea that true religion cannot be satisfactorily organized into a church. It suggests that those most closely... Read more →
Nature abhors a vacuum
This idea was first expressed by Plutarch as early as the first century AD and is much quoted today. It means that any natural deficiency tends... Read more →