desperate times call for desperate measures

English

Etymology

This phrase likely originates with a saying of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, which appears in his Aphorisms: "For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable."[1]. A similar phrase occurs in Erasmus's Latin adage "Malo nodo, malus quærendus cuneus" (from his 1500 book Adagia, which was first published in English in 1545).[2] Another similar Latin saying, "extremis malis extrema remedia," appears in print as early as 1596.[3]

Proverb

desperate times call for desperate measures

1. In adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected under other circumstances may become the best choice.

   Synonyms: desperate times require desperate measures, drastic times call for drastic measures

Translations

in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 非常時期需要非常手段 / 非常时期需要非常手段 (fēicháng shíqí xūyào fēicháng shǒuduàn); (lit., "extreme diseases require extreme medicine") 重症需下猛藥 / 重症需下猛药 (zhòngzhèng xū xià měng yào)

• Danish: desperate tider kræver desperate handlinger
• Dutch: nood breekt wet, nood breekt wetten
• Finnish: hätä keinot keksii
• French: aux grands maux les grands remèdes (fr)
• German: außergewöhnliche Umstände erfordern außergewöhnliche Maßnahmen, (informal) in der Not frisst der Teufel Fliegen (de)
• Hungarian: szükség törvényt bont
• Indonesian: masa-masa sulit melahirkan keputusan-keputusan sulit (literally “difficult times give birth to difficult decisions”)
• Italian: a mali estremi, estremi rimedi
• Latin: extremis malis extrema remedia
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: desperate tider krever desperate tiltak

• Polish: tonący brzytwy się chwyta (pl) (literally “a drowning man grabs a razor”)
• Spanish: a grandes males, grandes remedios
• Swedish: nöden har ingen lag
• Tagalog: ang taong nagigipit, sa patalim kumakapit (literally “a person running short clutches on a blade”)

See also

• necessity knows no law
• last-ditch
• last resort
• last gasp
• in extremis