It was going by the right door, and knocking desperately at the wrong one. ‥I told him of it: ‘Pooh,’ says he ‘my dear, any port in a storm.’
[1749 J. Cleland Memoirs of Woman of Pleasure II. 133]
As the Scotsman's howf [refuge] lies right under your lee, why, take any port in a storm.
[1821 Scott Pirate I. iv.]
It was not quite the sort of company with which Dover would mix from choice but, as the jolly sailors say, any port in a storm.
[1965 J. Porter Dover Three ii.]
On the principle of any port in a storm he made a dive for the nearest cubicle.
[1983 M. Bond Monsieur Pamplemousse iv.]
Related to: necessity; trouble
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
