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About this quote

What does it mean?
Law is powerful, but necessity is even stronger.
In plain terms
Need can outweigh legal authority.
What can you take from it?
Practical necessity can supersede formal rules.

Where it applies

  • ethical dilemmas
  • emergency decisions

Putting it to work

  • balancing legal compliance with urgent needs

Questions to consider

  • When does necessity justify breaking a law?
  • How do you balance law and need?

Another view

It may justify breaking laws without moral justification.

More from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  1. Alles Gescheite ist schon gedacht worden. Man muss nur versuchen, es noch einmal zu denken.

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  2. Once a man's thirty, he's already old, He is indeed as good as dead. It's best to kill him right away.

    Permalink to quote #78
  3. Blut ist ein ganz besonderer Saft.

    Permalink to quote #75

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