needs must when the devil drives

English

Etymology

Needs (“of necessity, necessarily”, adverb) must (“one must”, impersonal) when the devil drives.

Proverb

needs must when the devil drives

1. There is sometimes no choice but to do some specific thing.
   • 1664, Charles Cotton, Scarronides; or, Virgile Travestie:

     He needs must goe, the Devil drives.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well:

     My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives.

   • 1956, Gerald Durrell, “The Talking Flowers”, in My Family and Other Animals, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1959 (1974 printing), →OCLC, page 221:

     I doubt we can make it on foot, laden as we are. Dear me! I think we had better have a cab. An extravagance, of course, but needs must where the devil drives, eh?

Synonyms

• needs must (short form)
• necessity knows no law

Translations

there is sometimes no choice but to do something

• Finnish: hätä ei lue lakia
• German: was sein muss, muss sein
• Russian: нужда научит калачи есть (nužda naučit kalači jestʹ)
• Spanish: a la fuerza ahorcan
• Swedish: nöden har ingen lag
• Ukrainian: біда (лихо) навчить коржі з маком (коржі з салом, вареники) їсти (bida (lyxo) navčytʹ korži z makom (korži z salom, varenyky) jisty)