necessity is the mother of invention

Cf. [Persius Satires Prologue 10] magister artis ingeniique largitor venter, the belly is the teacher of art and the giver of wit. The idea is stated more succinctly in [1519 W. Horman Vulgaria 52] Nede taught hym wytte. Necessitas ingenium dedit.

Necessitie, the inuentor of all goodnesse (as all authours in a maner, doo saye)‥inuented a shaft heed.
[1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus ii. 18^V]

The great Mother, Of all productions (graue Necessity).
[1608 G. Chapman Tragedy of Byron iv. i.]

Art imitates Nature, and Necessity is the Mother of Invention.
[1658 R. Franck Northern Memoirs (1694) 44]

I soaled my Shoes with wood, which I cut from a Tree. ‥No man could more verify the Truth‥That, Necessity is the Mother of Invention.
[1726 J. Swift Gulliver's Travels iv. x.]

‘But, dame, I found language too poor to paint him. I was fain to invent. You know Necessity is the mother of—.’ ‘Ay! ay, that is old enough, o' conscience’.
[1861 C. Reade Cloister & Hearth II. vi.]

If necessity is the mother of invention, calamity is not uncommonly the source of legislation.
[2001 Washington Post 18 Nov. B7]

Related to: necessity

Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.

Inventiveness and ingenuity are stimulated by difficulty. For example, The first prisoner to tie together bedsheets to escape knew that necessity was the mother of invention. This proverb first appeared in English in 1519 in slightly different form, "Need taught him wit," and exists in many other languages as well.