# Source of (sort of gloomy) quote **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817 "2018-03-01T14:50:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/1 "2018-03-01T14:50:09Z")
For a few years now I have sought the source of a quote that I can only paraphrase: Nothing happens that is so good that someone doesn’t suffer or so bad that someone doesn’t benefit. Ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/2 "2018-03-01T22:02:07Z")
More of a proverb than a quotation, but [It’s an ill wind that blows nobody good](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/it-s-an-ill-wind-that-blows-nobody-any-good). Variations were apparently well known sayings by the middle of the 16th century. [cite 1](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Tusser), [cite 2](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Heywood). ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/3 "2018-03-01T22:05:43Z")
I knew this question sounded familiar. You asked [the same question, and I gave the same answer](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=820112), about a year ago. Are we caught in a time warp? ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/4 "2018-03-02T12:20:59Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > I knew this question sounded familiar. You asked [the same question, and I gave the same answer](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=820112), about a year ago. Are we caught in a time warp? Oops! Perhaps I _am_ stuck in a time warp! Or maybe it’s a seasonal thing. At any rate… thank you for your attempt at a answer but that’s not the specific quote I am looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/5 "2018-03-03T04:24:47Z")
nothing-is-bad-without-being-good-for-something/ ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/6 "2018-03-03T04:43:57Z")
> [@2Bits](#): > > For a few years now I have sought the source of a quote that I can only paraphrase: > > Nothing happens that is so good that someone doesn’t suffer or so bad that someone doesn’t benefit. This is different from the ones posted above, because it mentions something good leading to something bad as well. It sounds like an English translation of Cicero, doesn’t it? Or something an Englishman educated in the classics would say. Except it would be “… nor so bad …”. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/7 "2018-03-03T12:31:03Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > nothing-is-bad-without-being-good-for-something/ Hmmm… your link led to nowhere for me! ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/8 "2018-03-03T13:18:34Z")
> try this. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/9 "2018-03-03T20:09:08Z")
Thanks, Cub Mistress, While not the exact quote I was looking for the gist is the same. I’d still love to discover the name (along with the precise wording) that I heard some years back. I do recall that I recognized the name of the person who uttered the words. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/source-of-sort-of-gloomy-quote/809817/10 "2018-03-04T01:40:06Z")
Another tangent, perhaps: “There’s so much good in the worst of us and so much bad in the best of us It hardly behooves any of us to go talking down the rest of us.” -source unknown