It’s An ill Wind That Blows Nobody Good
It’s An ill Wind That Blows Nobody Good
someone who takes advantage of other people’s misfortunes, an opportunistic person, an unscrupulous and unprincipled person who benefits from other people’s misfortunes
A sailing metaphor frequently invoked to explain good luck arising from the source of others’ misfortune.
My boss got very ill and couldn’t work anymore. So, I got the chance to occupy his position. In fact, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.
When all ocean-going ships depended upon the wind to blow them along, a wind favorable to a vessel travelling east was unfavorable to one travelling west; but as ships were voyaging all over the globe – one westward, another to north or south – there was seldom a wind ‘blew nobody any good’, that did not benefit anyone at all.
By extension this proverb means that every calamity, loss or misfortune is of advantage to somebody. If Mr Harrison’s house is struck by lightning, Mr Johnson makes money out of repairing it; and if Mr Wilkins misses the last train home, the taxi-driver profits in consequence.
Source: http://proverbhunter.com/
Farsi: انسان فرصت طلبی که از مشکلات مردم به نفع خود استفاده می کند