Blessing in disguise

A blessing in disguise is an English language idiom referring to the idea that something that appears to be a misfortune can have unexpected benefits.

[3] It first appeared in James Hervey's hymn "Since all the downward tracts of time" in 1746, and is in current use in everyday speech and as the title of creative works such as novels, songs and poetry.

[4] The phrase originated in the hymn "Since all the downward tracts of time" by James Hervey (1714–1758), first published in "Reflections on a Flower-garden.

[5][6] In the hymn, Hervey meditated on the wisdom of accepting whatever God, in his infinite wisdom, chose to bestow on us, even things that appeared at first to be negative, because they were "blessings in disguise":[7] The draft manuscript of "Reflections on a Flower-garden", along with other works by Hervey, is held by the University of Leeds Special Collections.

[2] A Chinese folk tale tells of how an injury saved a man's life by preventing him from being killed in battle.