Englishlead a charmed life
Meaning: To be lucky or avoid danger.
Example: “She's survived two car crashes without a scratch; she leads a charmed life.”
Other ways to say this
German: Schwein haben Literally: To have pig
Czech: Mít kliku Literally: To have a door handle- English: luck out
Origin: Coined by Shakespeare in Macbeth (1605): cornered at last by Macduff, Macbeth boasts "I bear a charmed life, which must not yield, to one of woman born" — charmed here meaning genuinely magical, since the witches' prophecy had convinced him nothing born of woman could harm him. The line is soaked in irony, since Macduff was delivered by Caesarean section and kills Macbeth moments later, disproving the very protection Macbeth was relying on. The phrase nonetheless outlived the specific plot twist that undercut it, settling by the mid-1800s into a general cliché for anyone who seems to glide through danger unscathed, magic or no magic involved.
More English idioms
- close shave A narrow escape.
- come full circle To return (figuratively) to a point where one has been before.
- come home to roost To return to cause trouble.
- clown around To act silly.
- come off it! Stop pretending or exaggerating; I don't believe you.
- come out of one's shell To stop being shy.
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