A sailing metaphor frequently invoked to explain good luck arising from the source of others' misfortune.
An yll wynde that blowth no man to good, men saie.
[1546 J. Heywood Dialogue of Proverbs ii. ix. L1]
Ill blows the wind that profits nobody.
[1591 Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 ii. v. 55]
It is an ill wind which bloweth no man Profit. He is cast on the Shoar of Freezland‥where the Inhabitants‥were by his Preaching converted to Christianity.
[1655 T. Fuller Church Hist. Britain ii. ii.]
My good fortune (truly it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good) was almost too much for me.
[1832 S. Warren Diary of Late Physician I. i.]
It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, but then John Quinlan‥was about as close to being a nobody as anyone could get.
[1979 J. Scott Angels in your Beer xxviii.]
It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, as the wise man said, and certain Democrats and pundits think the wind that blew Enron away was a warm breeze from Eden.
[2002 Washington Times 11 Jan. A4]
Related to: misfortune
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
