A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

You don’t get SOMETHING for nothing
A variant of this, originally from the north country, runs you don’t get owt [anything] for nowt [nothing]. Cf. 1845 DISRAELI Sybil I. I. v. To do nothing and get something formed a boy’s ideal of a manly career.

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  1870 P. T. BARNUM Struggles & Triumphs viii. When people expect to get ‘something for nothing’ they are sure to be cheated. 1947 M. PENN Manchester Fourteen Miles xiii. No stranger, she declared emphatically, ever sent to another stranger ‘summat for nowt’. It would.. be against nature. 1952 F. PRATT Double Jeopardy i. You don’t get something for nothing, even in medicine. Perizone has a peculiar secondary effect. It releases all inhibitions. 1979 Guardian 18 June 10 Stravinsky and Auden.. [are] saying ‘You don’t get something for nothing.’ If you want the lovely things.. you can’t have them unless you’re prepared to pay for them. 1979 Church Times 29 June 13 You don’t get owt for nowt. "reciprocity
  

SOMETHING is better than nothing
Similar in sentiment to HALF a loaf is better than no bread. Cf. early 15th-cent. Fr. mieulx vault aucun bien que neant, something is better than nothing.

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  1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs I. ix. D1 And by this prouerbe appereth this o [one] thyng, That alwaie somwhat is better than nothyng. 1612 T. SHELTON tr. Cervantes’ Don Quixote III. vii. I will weare it as I may: for something is better then nothing. 1842 J. T. IRVING Attorney xvii. Something is better than nothing—nothing is better than starving. 1980 Country Life 24 Apr. 1283 Mrs Smith worked out her own charitable rules: give what can be given in kind (for something is better than nothing) but never give money. ■ content and discontent
  

something see also if ANYTHING can go wrong, it will.