"The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention."
--from "The Republic: The Complete and Unabridged Jowett Translation" by Plato
Toward the end of the astonishing period of Athenian creativity that furnished Western civilization with the greater part of its intellectual, artistic, and political wealth, Plato wrote The Republic, his discussion of the nature and meaning of justice and of the ideal state and its ruler. All subsequent European thinking about these subjects owes its character, directly or indirectly, to this most famous (and most accessible) of the Platonic dialogues. Although he describes a society that looks to some like the ideal human community and to others like a totalitarian nightmare, in the course of his description Plato raises relevant questions about politics, art, education, and the general conduct of life. The translation is by A. D. Lindsay.
Note this is also translated as "our need will be the real creator."
