xū​yào​shì​fā​míng​zhī​mǔ

necessity is the mother of invention

  1. need
    a need; a requirement; a demand; a desire for something
  2. to be
    to be; to correspond to; connects a subject to its identification, characterization, or identity
  3. invention
    a new product, process, or system created through study and experimentation
  4. zhī particle
    [possessive]
    Connects a describing word or phrase to the noun it describes, similar to de but used in formal or literary writing.
  5. noun
    source
    (bound form) source; origin; something that yields or produces other things