English

Verb

make a virtue of necessity

1. (idiomatic) To make the best of a difficult situation; to recast or portray an action or situation in which one has no alternatives as an action or situation which was deliberately chosen on its merits.
   • c. 1595, William Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 4, scene 1:

     Indeed, because you are a banish'd man,

     Therefore, above the rest, we parley to you:

     Are you content to be our general?

     To make a virtue of necessity

     And live, as we do, in this wilderness?

   • 1906, George Bernard Shaw, Major Barbara, Preface:

     Nietzsche, as I gather, regarded the slave-morality as having been invented and imposed on the world by slaves making a virtue of necessity and a religion of their servitude.

References

• "make a virtue of necessity" at OneLook® Dictionary Search.