Every cloud has a silver lining

Meaning

The proverb teaches us to be optimistic in life.  The sorrows and calamities many be a blessing in disguise. They make us stronger to face misfortunes in life boldly.  One needs to go through what life dishes out to us in order to become stronger and complete in ourselves.

Origin

John Milton coined the phrase 'silver lining' in Comus: A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634

I see ye visibly, and now believe
That he, the Supreme Good, to whom all things ill
Are but as slavish officers of vengeance,
Would send a glistering guardian, if need were
To keep my life and honour unassailed.
Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night?
I did not err; there does a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night,
And casts a gleam over this tufted grove.

'Clouds' and 'silver linings' were referred to often in literature from then onward, usually citing Milton and frequently referring to them as Milton's clouds. It isn't until the days of the uplifting language of Victori's England that we begin to hear the proverbial form that we are now familiar with - 'every cloud has a silver lining'. The first occurrence that is unequivocally expressing that notion comes in The Dublin Magazine, Volume 1, 1840, in a review of the novel Marian; or, a Young Maid's Fortunes, by Mrs S. Hall, which was published in 1840:

As Katty Macane has it, "there's a silver lining to every cloud that sails about the heavens if we could only see it."

'There's a silver lining to every cloud' was the form that the proverb was usually expressed in the Victorian era. The currently used 'every cloud has a silver lining' did appear, in another literary review, in 1849. The New monthly belle assemblée, Volume 31 include what purported to be a quotation from Mrs Hall's book - "Every cloud has a silver lining", but which didn't in fact appear in Marian, which merely reproduced Milton's original text.

Sometimes we see dark clouds in the sky. But if we look at them closely, we can see that their edges are sunlit white. This silver lining tells us that the sun is somewhere behind the clouds. Such clouds do not remain in the sky for a long time. They disappear quickly and the sky is clear again with the silver light of the sun. The proverb expresses the idea that sorrows and misfortunes are only temporary. Sorrows will be followed by happiness. Whenever there is shadow, light must be nearly. Whenever there is darkness, daylight is near. Behind every grief and pain, there is a silver thread of joy and happiness. Joys and sorrows are part of life. We should not lose hope in times of sorrow.