needs must when the devil drives
Appearance
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Needs (“of necessity, necessarily”, adverb) must (“one must”, impersonal) when the devil drives.
Proverb
[edit]needs must when the devil drives
- 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
[edit]- needs must (short form)
- necessity knows no law
Translations
[edit]there is sometimes no choice but to do something
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