Desperate cuts must have desperate cures.
Meaning: Severe problems require bold, unconventional solutions, even if risky or painful.
Origin: A version of "desperate diseases require desperate remedies," recorded from the mid-16th century. Hippocrates had advised that extreme diseases need extreme treatment, and Shakespeare's King Claudius says in Hamlet that "diseases desperate grown / By desperate appliance are relieved, / Or not at all."
More proverbs about Wisdom
- No longer pipe, no longer dance. — When the music stops, those dependent on it must cease their enjoyment and move forward.
- He dances well to whom fortune pipes. — Success comes easily to those blessed with favorable circumstances rather than personal e…
- Dainty dogs may have to eat dirty puddings. — Those unwilling to compromise their preferences may face deprivation when circumstances d…
- He that gropes in the dark finds that he would not. — Blind searching without guidance leads to unwanted discoveries rather than intended ones.
- It's a wicked thing to make a dearth one's garner. — Hoarding grain during scarcity exploits others' hunger for personal profit, compounding c…
- Death is deaf and hears no denial. — Mortality cannot be negotiated with or postponed, regardless of protests or refusal to ac…
From our tongue twisters
- Wij smachten naar achtentachtig prachtige nachten. — Five words carrying the Dutch guttural 'cht', the sound foreigners find hardest to produc…
- Liesje leerde Lotje lopen langs de lange Lindelaan. — Eight consecutive l-words, with the vowel behind the l changing every time.
- なまむぎ なまごめ なまたまご (Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago) — A nimble warm-up for the Japanese 'na / ma / ge' syllables.