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Every cloud has a silver lining
The proverb which is going to be discussed here in this post is related to a situation in which someone wants to say that there is a hope even for every bad situation. Let’s discuss about this famous proverb in English.
Proverb #88
Every cloud has a silver lining
Meaning: Be optimistic, even difficult times will lead to better days.
Let’s start our explanation with a conversational example:
Sally: What’s wrong with you? What happened?
Kate: I was fired from the company. I lost my work. I will lose my life soon too.
Sally: Oh, darling take it easy, don’t worry. You will get a better job.
Kate: How can I take it easy. I can’t stand for so many problems in my life.
Sally: Please don’t be stressed out so much, every cloud has a silver lining.
So I guess you can understand the meaning of this phrase in the above example. Based on the words of Sally which is going to help Kate with her problem, there would be a hope for her in her life and she express this through the phrase of “every cloud has a silver lining” which is a popular English proverb.
Let’s check the meaning and explanations of this proverb in some popular dictionaries to understand its meaning better:
“Every cloud has a silver lining“
Oxford:
Every difficult or sad situation has a comforting or more hopeful aspect, even though this may not be immediately apparent.
Cambridge:
It is said to emphasize that every difficult or unpleasant situation has some advantage
Merriam-Webster:
It is used to say that every bad situation holds the possibility of something good
Based on the above definitions about this proverb, we can understand the following meanings for this English proverb:
Every cloud has a silver lining :
Every bad situation has some good aspect to it
There is something good in everything that seems bad
Some benefits can be derived from a bad thing that happens
You can derive some benefit from a bad thing that happens to you
Every negative or bad occurrence may have a positive aspect within it
Every difficult or unwanted situation won’t necessarily be an unpleasant one
There would be some advantages in every bad situation which seems to be so bad
Please note that this proverb is usually said as an encouragement to a person who is overcome by some problems and difficulties and the person seems to be unable to do anything and it is a way to remind him / her to be optimistic and to see a positive way forward. It is a way to tell them how could the bad things that happened in our life have a positive side.
We can say that clouds are the difficult phases in our life and silver linings are the rays of hopes. It is a way to remind someone who faces a problem or a bad situation that every difficulty is not going to remain forever and it would be a test of a person’s strength, and ability. Nothing is permanent. It doesn’t rain all year the sun will come out eventually, so we just need to stay calm and maintain a positive attitude.When God takes away some thing from your hands he is actually preparing you to receive something better.
The origin of this proverb seems to be attributed to the year 1634, when John Milton penned his masque Comus. It is most likely traceable in a quote appears as “Was I deceived or did a sable cloud Turn forth her silver lining on the night?”. Some resources believe that it has been used since the mid 1800s.
Let’s take a look at some examples about this idiom to understand it better:
I know you’re upset about not getting a desirable result, but just keep trying more and remind yourself that every cloud has a silver lining.
When I’m facing a problem in my life or I’m going through a hard time, I try to remind myself that every cloud has a silver lining.
When Molly lost her job all her friends tried to cheer her up, but she never could find the silver lining in the cloud of her problem.
John has been bankrupted, but he is going to try hard again as he believes every cloud has a silver lining.
Donald got a bad illness, and after a while he could defeat his illness just by this idea that every cloud has a silver lining.
Dear Katy there is no need to think about your divorce. I am sure you can make a better life for you and your children while every cloud has a silver lining.
Even though he lost the match, but he gained the experience of defeating, so he hopes to win in the next year and knows that every cloud has a silver lining.
