desperate times call for desperate measures

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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."http://classics.mit.edu/Hippocrates/aphorisms.1.i.html. A similar phrase occurs in Erasmus's Latin adage Malo nodo, malus quærendus cuneus (from his book Adagia (1500), which was first published in English in 1545).http://books.google.com/books?id=VX_Cf4e_66IC&pg=PA73&dq=erasmus+adagia+%22malo+nodo%22&hl=en&ei=nMAFTdu5LISglAfk89CzCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=erasmus%20adagia%20%22malo%20nodo%22&f=false Another similar Latin saying, "extremis malis extrema remedia," appears in print as early as 1596.http://books.google.com/books?id=fCVDAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA9&dq=%22extremis+malis%22&hl=en&ei=wscFTeWqB8H_lgf2xJz_CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CE0Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%22extremis%20malis%22&f=false

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Arabic: الضَّرُورَاتُ تُبِيحُ المَحْظُورَات (aḍ-ḍarūrātu tubīḥu l-maḥẓūrāt) — 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) — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Chinese Mandarin: 重症需下猛藥 /重症需下猛药 (zhòngzhèng xū xià měng yào) — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Danish: desperate tider kræver desperate handlinger — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Dutch: nood breekt wet — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Dutch: nood breekt wetten — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Finnish: hätä keinot keksii — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• French: aux grands maux les grands remèdes — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• German: außergewöhnliche Umstände erfordern außergewöhnliche Maßnahmen — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• German: in der Not frisst der Teufel Fliegen — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Hindi: मरता क्या न करता (martā kyā na kartā) — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Hungarian: szükség törvényt bont — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Indonesian: masa-masa sulit melahirkan keputusan-keputusan sulit — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Italian: a mali estremi, estremi rimedi — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Latin: extremis malis extrema remedia — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Macedonian: нужда закон менува (nužda zakon menuva) — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Norwegian Bokmål: desperate tider krever desperate tiltak — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Polish: tonący brzytwy się chwyta — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Spanish: a grandes males, grandes remedios — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Swedish: nöden har ingen lag — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Tagalog: ang taong nagigipit, sa patalim kumakapit — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice
• Turkish: denize düşen yılana sarılır — in adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected may become the best choice