April showers bring May flowers

Meaning: (by extension, figurative) A period of discomfort or hardship can provide the basis for a period of happiness and joy.

Origin: Thomas Tusser's farming calendar in verse, first published in 1557 as A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie and later expanded into Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, has "Sweet April showers / Do spring May flowers." It began as practical weather lore and is now used for any hardship that leads to something good.

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