needs must when the devil drives en · X
Etymology
Originally “needs must he go whom the devil drives”, where needs is an adverb with the sense “of necessity”.
Meanings
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There is sometimes no choice but to do some specific thing.
My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives.
1623, William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well:He needs must goe, the Devil drives.
1664, Charles Cotton, Scarronides; or, Virgile Travestie:I doubt we can make it on foot, laden as we are. Dear me! I think we had better have a cab. An extravagance, of course, but needs must where the devil drives, eh?
1956, Gerald Durrell, “The Talking Flowers”, in My Family and Other Animals, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1959 (1974 printing), →OCLC, page 221:
Synonyms
needs must · necessity knows no law
Translations (8)
uk біда навчить коржі з маком їсти (there is sometimes no choice but to do something) · es a la fuerza ahorcan (there is sometimes no choice but to do something) · de was sein muss, muss sein (there is sometimes no choice but to do something) · sv nöden har ingen lag (there is sometimes no choice but to do something) · fi hätä ei lue lakia (there is sometimes no choice but to do something) · fr à la guerre comme à la guerre (there is sometimes no choice but to do something) · fr nécessité fait loi (there is sometimes no choice but to do something) · ru нужда научит калачи есть (there is sometimes no choice but to do something)