Full Idea
That which is common to everything, and which is equally in the part and in the whole, forms the essence of no individual thing.
Gist of Idea
Nothing is essential if it is in every part, and is common to everything
Source
Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], II Pr 37)
Book Reference
Spinoza,Benedict de: 'Ethics', ed/tr. White,WH/Stirling,AH [Wordsworth 2001], p.76
A Reaction
I like this, because treating essences as mere necessary properties threatens to include utter trivia and universal generalities, just because they are necessary. Rejecting things as 'trivial' by stipulation won't do.