--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: You don't have to have a reason if you…" description: "\"“You don't have to have a reason if you have this need.”\" — Joseph McElroy" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/joseph-mcelroy-12331_intelligence_you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-h_2716684.jpg" --- # You don't have to have a reason if you have this need. ![“You don't have to have a reason if you have this need.” quote by Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/joseph-mcelroy-12331_intelligence_you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-h_2716684.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/joseph-mcelroy-12331_intelligence_you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-h_2716684.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/joseph-mcelroy-12331_intelligence_you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-h_2716684.jpg) > ““You don't have to have a reason if you have this need.”” [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Suggests that a strong need can exist without a rational reason. **In simple terms:** Needs can be irrational. Key Takeaway Accept that some needs are instinctual. Themes instinct need irrationality motivation Mood curious reflective intriguing Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - making decisions - understanding impulses - self‑acceptance Key Concepts psychology human behavior inner drive Questions to Reflect On - Why do we act without reason? - How can we honor irrational needs responsibly? A Different Perspective May overlook logical analysis. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Don Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/don-reason-1355400/) [Intelligence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) [Need](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/need/) [Reason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason/) [Reason Need](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reason-need-370504/) ## Related quotes > [“You do not need commandments to tell you what is right and wrong, you need reason. YOU NEED TO THINK. What are the consequences…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kassandra-dick/you-do-not-need-commandments-to-tell-you-what-is-right-and-wrong-you/) [Kassandra Dick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kassandra-dick/) > [I don't see any reason for marriage when there is divorce.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/catherine-deneuve/i-don-t-see-any-reason-for-marriage-when-there-is-divorce/) [Catherine Deneuve](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/catherine-deneuve/) > [Don't ever, for any reason, do anything to anyone, for any reason, ever, no matter what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-scott/don-t-ever-for-any-reason-do-anything-to-anyone-for-any-reason-ever/) [Michael Scott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-scott/) > [Everything is reason. If you don't have reason, you have nothing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/everything-is-reason-if-you-don-t-have-reason-you-have-nothing/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [Don't take nothing from nobody and don't give anyone reason to take advantage of you in the first place.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ash-sweeney/don-t-take-nothing-from-nobody-and-don-t-give-anyone-reason-to-take/) [Ash Sweeney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ash-sweeney/) > [Don't find a reason to smile. Find a way.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-zahara/don-t-find-a-reason-to-smile-find-a-way/) [Rita Zahara](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-zahara/) > [I don't have any reason to lie about anything.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/august-alsina/i-don-t-have-any-reason-to-lie-about-anything/) [August Alsina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/august-alsina/) > [I changed myself for a reason and now I don't have that reason.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kurrupted-data/i-changed-myself-for-a-reason-and-now-i-don-t-have-that-reason/) [Kurrupted Data](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kurrupted-data/) > [The only reason you need to do something is none other than GOD..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-only-reason-you-need-to-do-something-is-none-other-than-god/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Our Last Will and Testament, providing for the only future of which we can be reasonably certain, namely our own death, shows thatthe Will's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/our-last-will-and-testament-providing-for-the-only-future-of-which-we/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars Are in the poorest thing superfluous. Allow not nature more than nature needs, Man's life is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/o-reason-not-the-need-our-basest-beggars-are-in-the-poorest-thing/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [You…you need to move on,” I managed. Yes, that was a sound reason. “You need to find someone else. You know I don’t—that I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/you-you-need-to-move-on-i-managed-yes-that-was-a-sound-reason-you/) [Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/) > [Everyone moves for reason. You need a reason to leave everything behind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agathe-snow/everyone-moves-for-reason-you-need-a-reason-to-leave-everything-behind/) [Agathe Snow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agathe-snow/) > [There is always a reason why, and I need to tell the stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alber-elbaz/there-is-always-a-reason-why-and-i-need-to-tell-the-stories/) [Alber Elbaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alber-elbaz/) > [There is a reason and a need to have an Environmental Protection Agency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-pruitt/there-is-a-reason-and-a-need-to-have-an-environmental-protection/) [Scott Pruitt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-pruitt/) ## More by Joseph McElroy > [“... people hasten to get their train, and Lar's humming of course at the premise that beyond this gone-to-pieces capability they will put themselves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/people-hasten-to-get-their-train-and-lar-s-humming-of-course-at-the/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“You find yourself in other people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/you-find-yourself-in-other-people/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“I see you moving and me here. Ever-moving. But sometimes moving in one place without ever leaving, yet knowing you could leave.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/i-see-you-moving-and-me-here-ever-moving-but-sometimes-moving-in-one/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“Memory kept things from being over.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/memory-kept-things-from-being-over/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“Isn't history breaking so fast that you have to anticipate it?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/isn-t-history-breaking-so-fast-that-you-have-to-anticipate-it/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“... or a Buenos Aires cab's exhaust pipe? An exhaust pipe which James Mayn was once invited to screw, having asked a man on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/or-a-buenos-aires-cab-s-exhaust-pipe-an-exhaust-pipe-which-james-mayn/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“And isn't this hard when we ourselves are always at the beginning of ourselves?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/and-isn-t-this-hard-when-we-ourselves-are-always-at-the-beginning-of/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“Silence is the real crime against humanity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/silence-is-the-real-crime-against-humanity/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“And I got to stop thinking there's what was and what will be, and start thinking there's a story in between.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/and-i-got-to-stop-thinking-there-s-what-was-and-what-will-be-and/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“And what is your story? someone interrupts. What did you do to end up in this endless community of minds?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/and-what-is-your-story-someone-interrupts-what-did-you-do-to-end-up/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“Special reincarnation? he said. She sighed. Why did people want to complicate things by coming back twenty years later for a second, third chance?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/special-reincarnation-he-said-she-sighed-why-did-people-want-to/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“I am alone, I am alone, but not lonely, not lonely for people, it seems.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/i-am-alone-i-am-alone-but-not-lonely-not-lonely-for-people-it-seems/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“Do you ever feel,' she wonders, 'that we fit into a large life that doesn't know us but--hold us? And that this is better…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/do-you-ever-feel-she-wonders-that-we-fit-into-a-large-life-that-doesn/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“I sat reading from first thing in the morning till the middle of the afternoon. I used to get a phone call twice a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/i-sat-reading-from-first-thing-in-the-morning-till-the-middle-of-the/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) > [“Above his olive-skinned neck a Low Dark Fade they call it at the barber's school where I go for a $4.99 haircut and an experience.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/above-his-olive-skinned-neck-a-low-dark-fade-they-call-it-at-the/) [Joseph McElroy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) [Explore all 55 Joseph McElroy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/) ## More Intelligence quotes > [If you can do anything for love there's no reason you can't do everything to someone you love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jayjay-guillermo/if-you-can-do-anything-for-love-there-s-no-reason-you-can-t-do/) [Jayjay Guillermo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jayjay-guillermo/) > [Long before the 2016 presidential campaign, confidential sources had alerted me to longstanding misuses of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court system and the erosion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharyl-attkisson/long-before-the-2016-presidential-campaign-confidential-sources-had/) [Sharyl Attkisson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharyl-attkisson/) > [“If people fully understand you, they will think of you as a normal, if they half understand you, will think of you as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-f-moonzajer/if-people-fully-understand-you-they-will-think-of-you-as-a-normal-if/) [M.F. Moonzajer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-f-moonzajer/) > [Woman, in short, has an unconscious life, man a conscious life, and the genius the most conscious life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/otto-weininger/woman-in-short-has-an-unconscious-life-man-a-conscious-life-and-the/) [Otto Weininger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/otto-weininger/) > [“The mystery of the world is revealed only to the person who can look upon the material world with his physical eyes and simultaneously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/awdhesh-singh/the-mystery-of-the-world-is-revealed-only-to-the-person-who-can-look/) [Awdhesh Singh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/awdhesh-singh/) > [Plainly, the environment must be a living one, directed by a higher intelligence, arranged by an adult who is prepared for his mission.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-montessori/plainly-the-environment-must-be-a-living-one-directed-by-a-higher/) [Maria Montessori](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-montessori/) > [“Your mind has the intellect to lift the world, your heart has the wisdom to better the world, and your soul has the genius…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matshona-dhliwayo/your-mind-has-the-intellect-to-lift-the-world-your-heart-has-the/) [Matshona Dhliwayo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matshona-dhliwayo/) > [An ex is an ex for a reason, they are an EXample of what you don't want in your future.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexia/an-ex-is-an-ex-for-a-reason-they-are-an-example-of-what-you-don-t/) [Alexia](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexia/) > [“When it comes to smarts, adolescents like Jesse have plenty. What they lack, however, are some of the brain-based skills that we all need…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-guare/when-it-comes-to-smarts-adolescents-like-jesse-have-plenty-what-they/) [Richard Guare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-guare/) > [What we shall need is not geniuses, or cynics, or misanthropes, or clever tacticians, but plain, honest, straghtforward men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dietrich-bonhoeffer/what-we-shall-need-is-not-geniuses-or-cynics-or-misanthropes-or/) [Dietrich Bonhoeffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dietrich-bonhoeffer/) > [If you've got creativity, imagination, and intelligence, and you want to be hypnotised, then there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keith-barry/if-you-ve-got-creativity-imagination-and-intelligence-and-you-want-to/) [Keith Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keith-barry/) > [“A smart person learns from his mistakes, but a truly wise person learns from the mistakes of others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ken-schramm/a-smart-person-learns-from-his-mistakes-but-a-truly-wise-person/) [Ken Schramm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ken-schramm/) > [One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/one-is-not-born-a-genius-one-becomes-a-genius-and-the-feminine/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) > [“You are very kind and very intelligent and those elements are not always found together. Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, and my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/you-are-very-kind-and-very-intelligent-and-those-elements-are-not/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-columbus/for-the-execution-of-the-voyage-to-the-indies-i-did-not-make-use-of/) [Christopher Columbus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-columbus/) [Browse all 9,546 Intelligence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intelligence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“You don't have to have a reason if you have this need.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Joseph McElroy" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-have-this-need/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Intelligence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-have-this-need/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/joseph-mcelroy-12331_intelligence_you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-h_2716684.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/joseph-mcelroy-12331_intelligence_you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-h_2716684.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5b0/joseph-mcelroy-12331_intelligence_you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-h_2716684.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“You don't have to have a reason if you have this need.” — Joseph McElroy", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Joseph McElroy", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-mcelroy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“You don't have to have a...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-have-this-need/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-mcelroy/you-don-t-have-to-have-a-reason-if-you-have-this-need/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```