desperate times call for desperate measures

English

Alternative forms

• desperate times require desperate measures
• drastic times call for drastic measures

Etymology

This phrase likely originates with a saying of the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, which appears in his Aphorisms: "For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable."[1]. A similar phrase occurs in Erasmus's Latin adage "Malo nodo, malus quærendus cuneus" (from his 1500 book Adagia, which was first published in English in 1545).[2] Another similar Latin saying, "extremis malis extrema remedia," appears in print as early as 1596.[3]

Proverb

desperate times call for desperate measures

1. In adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected under other circumstances may become the best choice.

Translations

in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 非常時期需要非常手段／非常时期需要非常手段 (fēicháng shíqí xūyào fēicháng shǒuduàn); (lit., "extreme diseases require extreme medicine") 重症需下猛藥／重症需下猛药 (zhòngzhèng xū xià měng yào)

• Danish: desperate tider kræver desperate handlinger
• Dutch: nood breekt wet, nood breekt wetten
• Finnish: hätä keinot keksii
• French: aux grands maux les grands remèdes (fr)
• German: außergewöhnliche Umstände erfordern außergewöhnliche Maßnahmen, (informal) in der Not frisst der Teufel Fliegen (de)
• Indonesian: masa-masa sulit melahirkan keputusan-keputusan sulit (literally “difficult times give birth to difficult decisions”)
• Italian: a mali estremi, estremi rimedi
• Latin: extremis malis extrema remedia
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: desperate tider krever desperate tiltak

• Polish: tonący brzytwy się chwyta (pl) (literally “a drowning man grabs a razor”)
• Spanish: a grandes males, grandes remedios
• Swedish: nöden har ingen lag
• Tagalog: ang taong nagigipit, sa patalim kumakapit (literally “a person running short clutches on a blade”)

See also

• last-ditch
• last resort
• last gasp
• in extremis