suziq, dict-cc is sometimes quite good, but this time it gets a decided thumbs down from me, ;-) sorry.

@Phillipp - not really happy with it myself but better than nothing, I thought. I don't think I have ever said "nothing comes from nothing" either, although "von nichts kommt nichts" is a phrase I have used. There must be an adequate phrase, don't you think? :)

suziq, I'm a bit surprised at you. The phrase, or one common version of it, really is "nothing comes from nothing". There's even a Wikipedia page under the title:

"Nothing comes from nothing is a philosophical expression often stated in its Latin form: ex nihilo nihil fit. Today, the idea is loosely associated with the ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_comes_from_nothing - "

I've said it quite a few times in the course of my life.

@Phillipp - sorry!!! Maybe my "Kreislauf" is playing tricks with me and my brain is not suitably oxygenated!!! ;) (didn't want to disappoint with my ignorance) ;(

Something Good

Maria
Perhaps I had a wicked childhood
Perhaps I had a miserable youth
But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past
There must have been a moment of truth
For here you are, standing here, loving me
Whether or not you should
But somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good
Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

as a Sound of Music fan, i'd go with "Nothing comes from nothing"

Maybe the dict.cc version isn't as bad as I made it out, at least for certain situations. Just seems to me a bit longwinded.