desperate times call for desperate measures

Etymology
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.". A similar phrase occurs in Erasmus's Latin adage "Malo nodo, malus quærendus cuneus" (from his 1500 book Adagia, which was first published in English in 1545). Another similar Latin saying, "extremis malis extrema remedia," appears in print as early as 1596.

Proverb

 * 1) In adverse circumstances, actions that might have been rejected under other circumstances may become the best choice.

Translations

 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 非常時期需要非常手段; 重症需下猛藥
 * Danish: desperate tider kræver desperate handlinger
 * Dutch: nood breekt wet, nood breekt wetten
 * Finnish: hätä keinot keksii
 * French:
 * German: außergewöhnliche Umstände erfordern außergewöhnliche Maßnahmen,
 * Hungarian: szükség törvényt bont
 * Indonesian: masa-masa sulit melahirkan keputusan-keputusan sulit
 * Italian: a mali estremi, estremi rimedi
 * Latin: extremis malis extrema remedia
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: desperate tider krever desperate tiltak
 * Polish:
 * Spanish: a grandes males, grandes remedios
 * Swedish: nöden har ingen lag
 * Tagalog: ang taong nagigipit, sa patalim kumakapit