A dictionary of Proverbs (Oxford Paperback Reference)

It’s an ILL wind that blows nobody any good
A sailing metaphor frequently invoked to explain good luck arising from the source of others’ misfortune.

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  1546 J. HEYWOOD Dialogue of Proverbs II. ix. L1 An yll wynde that blowth no man to good, men saie. 1591 SHAKESPEARE Henry VI, Pt. 3 II. v. 55 Ill blows the wind that profits nobody. 1655 T. FULLER Church Hist. Britain II. ii. It is an ill wind which bloweth no man Profit. He is cast on the Shoar of Freezland.. where the Inhabitants .. were by his Preaching converted to Christianity. 1832 S. WARREN Diary of Late Physician I. i. My good fortune (truly it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good) was almost too much for me. 1979 J. SCOTT Angels in your Beer xxviii. It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, but then John Quinlan.. was about as close to being a nobody as anyone could get. 2002 Washington Times 11 Jan. A4 It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good, as the wise man said, and certain Democrats and pundits think the wind that
  

blew Enron away was a warm breeze from Eden. ■ misfortune
ill see also BAD news travels fast; EVIL doers are evil dreaders; EVIL to him who evil thinks; it’s ill speaking between a FULL man and a fasting; he that LIVES in hope dances to an ill tune; it is ill SITTING at Rome and striving with the Pope; a SOW may whistle, though it has an ill mouth for it; never SPEAK ill of the dead; also BAD.
IMITATION is the sincerest form of flattery

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  1820 C. C. COLTON Lacon I. 113 Imitation is the sincerest of flattery. 1843 SURTEES Handley Cross I. xv. Imitation is the sincerest of flattery. 1940 E. PAYNE Malice Domestic 13 Penny’s [clothes] all seemed to be homemade copies of the expensive models her sister wore. . . Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but.. I wondered whether there might not be more to it. 2001 Washington Post 8 Sept. C11 It has been said that ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,’ but being stalked and copied can indeed be frightening. "imitation