make a virtue of necessity

Cultural  

1. To pretend that one is freely and happily doing something one has been forced to do: “Once the mayor was forced by the voters to cut his budget, he made a virtue of necessity and loudly denounced government spending.”

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make a virtue of necessity Idioms  

1. Do the best one can under given circumstances, as in Since he can't break the contract, Bill's making a virtue of necessity. This expression first appeared in English in Chaucer's The Knight's Tale: “Then is it wisdom, as it thinketh me, to make virtue of necessity.” Also see make the best of.

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Example Sentences

The cynical take on this grand vision is that AT&T is trying to make a virtue of necessity.

From New York Times • Jan. 4, 2017

Struggling to fill the 2,000 seats in Orchestra Hall, its acoustically distinguished home downtown, it has tried to make a virtue of necessity, refocusing its energies on the communities where many of its patrons live.

From New York Times • Nov. 11, 2015

Ms. Poitras, having ended up with a different film than the one she set out on, decided to make a virtue of necessity.

From New York Times • May 7, 2010

When the British accepted the hard bargain driven by the U.S., they tried to make a virtue of necessity and kidded themselves that lifting of restrictions on "current transactions" would work.

From Time Magazine Archive

While economics and the flattening of the world have pushed Reuters down this path, Glocer has tried to make a virtue of necessity.

From "The World Is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman