Every cloud...

Posted by ESC on August 21, 2007

In Reply to: Every cloud... posted by Smokey Stover on August 21, 2007

: : : What does the proverb every cloud has a silver lining means?

: : I usually hear "every dark cloud has a silver lining" but it seems to be more popular without "dark" in Google - I guess I'm alone in assuming white fluffy clouds are good. Anyway...

: : Even in a negative situation there is some hope, or some good can come from something that seems bad. Similar to "It's an ill wind that blows no good."

: Just to be sure, the "silver lining" is the bright outline at the edge of the cloud when it is lit from behind by the sun, or at least a brighter sky.
: SS

EVERY CLOUD HAS A SILVER LINING - "John Milton's masque (dramatic entertainment) 'Comus' gave rise to the current proverb with the lines, 'Was I deceiv'd, or did a sable cloud/ Turn forth her silver lining on the night?' Charles Dickens, in his novel 'Bleak House' , recalled the lines with 'I turn my silver lining outward like Milton's cloud,' and the American impresario Phineas T. Barnum first recorded the wording of the modern saying in 'Struggles and Triumphs' with 'Every cloud,' says the proverb, 'has a silver lining.'" From Wise Words and Wives' Tales: The Origins, Meanings and Time-Honored Wisdom of Proverbs and Folk Sayings Olde and New; by Stuart Flexner and Doris Flexner (Avon Books, New York, 1993).

See the meaning and origin of the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining".