MENELAUS:But so it has to be.
For the saying is not mine, but it was wisely said,
that nothing has more strength than dire necessity.

[ΜΕΝΕΛΈΩΣ:ἀλλ᾽ ἀναγκαίως ἔχει.
λόγος γάρ ἐστιν οὐκ ἐμός, σοφὸν δ᾽ ἔπος,
δεινῆς ἀνάγκης οὐδὲν ἰσχύειν πλέον.]

Euripides (485?-406? BC) Greek tragic dramatist

Helen [Ἑλένη], l. 512ff (412 BC) [tr. Lattimore (1956)]
    (Source)

(Source (Greek)). Other translations:

But hard necessity constrains: not mine
This saying, but the sentence of the sage,
Nothing is stronger than Necessity.
[tr. Potter (1783), l. 560ff]

But thus hath Fate ordained.
Nor is it my assertion, but a maxim
Among the wise established, that there's nought
More powerful than the dread behests of Fate.
[tr. Wodhull (1809)]

But it needs must be. For it is not my saying, but the saying of wise men: naught has a greater power than terrible necessity.
[tr. Buckley (1850)]

But it is necessary. The saying is not mine, but it is a wise word: nothing is stronger than dreadful necessity.
[tr. Coleridge (1891)]

Yet it needs must be.
Not mine the saying is, but wisdom's saw --
"Stronger is nought than dread Necessity."
[tr. Way (Loeb) (1912)]

There's no other way.
"Needs must," the proverb says; and so I say
"Needs must," and my necessities obey.
[tr. Sheppard (1925)]

But necessity compels.
It is not my saying, but it is a weighty one,
that nothing has more strength than hard necessity.
[tr. Warner (1951)]

Well, I must. Nothing is stronger than necessity -- I did not invent that proverb, but it’s true none the less, and very well known.
[tr. Vellacott (1954)]

But this is what things have come to.
He spoke wisely -- it wasn't I -- who said:
there is no arm strong enough to bend back dread necessity.
[tr. Meagher (1986)]

But there is no alternative. It is not my own saying, but a wise man's none the less, that nothing is as strong as stern necessity.
[tr. Davie (2002)]

Still needs must I. Yea, this is no saying of mine, but a word of wisdom, "Naught in might exceedeth dread necessity."
[tr. Athenian Society (2006)]

But -- "beggars can't be choosers". Hardly an original proverb,
But wise words indeed.
[tr. A. Wilson (2007)]

Still, I must bow to necessity. A wise man, not I, once said that there’s no mightier force than dire necessity.
[tr. Theodoridis (2011)]

Still, ‘necessity offers us no choice’.
I didn’t make that up, but it sounds smart.
[Ambrose et al. (2018)]

But it is necessary. The saying is not mine, but it is a wise [sophon] word [epos]: nothing is stronger than dreadful [deinē] necessity.
[tr. Coleridge / Helen Heroization Team]