Necessity, which frequently exists only in the mind, is less often the mother of invention than of obstinacy, and the obstinacy of those three years exacted from France a penalty which continued to exert its effects over the years, especially in World War II, and which cannot be fully summed up even now." - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
Pg. 18
“

Necessity, which frequently exists only in the mind, is less often the mother of invention than of obstinacy, and the obstinacy of those three years exacted from France a penalty which continued to exert its effects over the years, especially in World War II, and which cannot be fully summed up even now.

— Bernard Brodie (military strategist)

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Necessity, which frequently exists only in the mind, is less often the mother of invention than of obstinacy, and the obstinacy of those three years exacted from France a penalty which continued to exert its effects over the years, especially in World War II, and which cannot be fully summed up even now." in the context of "Pg. 18" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Bernard Brodie (military strategist)" (Quotes, Strategy in the Missile Age: Pdf of the original document http://www.rand.org/pubs/commercial_books/CB137-1.html) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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Bernard Brodie (military strategist)

About Bernard Brodie (military strategist)

Bernard Brodie (May 20, 1910 – November 24, 1978) was an American military strategist well known for establishing the basics of nuclear strategy. Known as "the American Clausewitz," and "the original nuclear strategist," he was an initial architect of nuclear deterrence strategy and tried to ascertain the role and value of nuclear weapons after their creation.