Samuel Johnson

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.

English Writer

Henri Cartier-Bresson

We photographers deal in things which are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished there is no contrivance on earth can make them come back again. We cannot develop and print a memory.

French Photographer

Paul Keating

Truth is, of its essence, liberating, as it is possessed of no contrivance or conceit - that it provides the only genuine basis for progress and that the future can only be found in truth.

Australian Politician

Jill Lepore

Stages of life are artifacts. Adolescence is a useful contrivance, midlife is a moving target, senior citizens are an interest group, and tweenhood is just plain made up.

American Historian

Robert Collier

Every contrivance of man, every tool, every instrument, every utensil, every article designed for use, of each and every kind, evolved from a very simple beginnings.

American Author

Gerrit Smith

Our political and constitutional rights, so called, are but the natural and inherent rights of man, asserted, carried out, and secured by modes of human contrivance.

American Politician

Jimmy Carter

Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants. People have the right to expect that these wants will be provided for by this wisdom.

American President

Stanley Crouch

Everybody has to be reminded that there's another way to be. Another more mysterious, unpredictable way to be that's not necessarily based upon contrivances.

American Critic

Paul Morrissey

I adore jokes. They're a theatrical contrivance, but the irony of all fiction is that you approach reality by avoiding it a bit; you spoof it a bit.

American Director

Charles Babbage

At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes abridged.

English Mathematician

Refers to physical objects designed to perform tasks or solve issues.

Practical Tool

Highlights the inventive aspect of an item used for specific purposes.

Innovation Emphasis

Can imply simple inventions, not necessarily complicated gadgets.

Not Always Complex

Suggests a plan that might be secret, possibly with negative connotations.

Scheming Overtone

May imply dishonesty or manipulation in a strategy or plan.

Deceptive Plan

Focuses on the inventiveness and originality in making something new.

Creative Process

Can involve developing concepts or methods, not only tangible items.

Contrivance