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It's an ill wind that blows nobody good

Posted by ESC on March 09, 2009 at 17:38

In Reply to: It's an ill wind that blows nobody good Posted by Patsy on March 09, 2009 at 16:25:

: Where does "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good" come from?

It's an ill wind that blows (nobody) no good. It is a "naval proverb" that was listed in John Heywood's 1546 book of proverbs: An ill wind that bloweth no man TO good. And it was used by Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part Three . There are several variations and the phrase is often shortened to "ill wind." Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996). Page 183.

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