A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

1303 R. BRUNNE Handlyng Synne (EETS) 1. 9242 Tharfor men seys, an weyl ys trowed [believed], ‘the nere the cherche, the fyrther fro God.’ 1620 T. SHELTON tr. Cervantes’ Don Quixote II. xlvii. Eat nothing of all this meat.. for this dinner was presented by Nunnes, and it is an olde saying, The neerer the Church, the farther from God. 1879 J. E. HOPKINS Work amongst Working Men i. I fear it was a practical comment on the truth of the uncomfortable proverb, ‘The nearer the church, the farther from God,’ that so bad a district should adjoin one of the great headquarters of the church. 1957 R. GRAVES They hanged my Saintly Billy ii. ‘The nearer the church, the farther from God,’ is a proverb of doubtful truth. But true it is that William Palmer, as a child, had two churches frowning down on him. "Christianity

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.

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  1545 R. ASCHAM Toxophilus II 18V Necessitie, the inuentor of all goodnesse (as all authours in a maner, doo saye).. inuented a shaft heed. 1608 G. CHAPMANTragedy of Byron IV. i. The great Mother, Of all productions (graue Necessity). 1658 R. FRANCK Northern Memoirs (1694) 44 Art imitates Nature, and Necessity is the Mother of Invention. 1726 J. SWIFT Gulliver’s Travels IV. X. 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. 1861 C. READE Cloister & Hearth II. vi. ‘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’. 2001 Washington Post 18 Nov. B7 If necessity is the mother of invention, calamity is not uncommonly the source of legislation. "necessity