"Misfortune is where blessings depend, and blessings are where misfortune lies." It means that blessings and misfortunes are cause and effect and transform each other. It is a metaphor that bad things can lead to good results, and good things can also lead to bad results. In other words, under certain conditions, blessings can turn into disasters, and disasters can turn into blessings.

The inspiration contained in this sentence: Be humble and prudent in good times, guard against arrogance and impetuosity; being complacent and arrogant will breed disasters, turning from blessings to disasters; be persistent and diligent in adversity, Change adversity into good times, from bitterness to sweetness.

This sentence comes from Chapter 58 of Laozi's "Tao Te Ching". It has simple materialist dialectical thinking and embodies the characteristics of the unity of opposites in contradictions.

Extended information:

Original text

The government is boring, but the people are honest; the government is unscrupulous, but the people are lacking.

Misfortune lies where blessings depend, and blessing lies where misfortune lies. Who knows the extreme?

It is not correct. The good ones become strange again, and the good ones become monsters again. People's confusion lasts forever!

This is why a sage is square but not cutting, honest but not prudent, straight but not unbridled, bright but not dazzling.

Translation

If the government is generous, the people will be honest; if the government is strict, the people will be cunning. When you encounter disaster, you rely on blessings and fortune; when you get blessings and fortune, disaster lurks. Who knows what the end result will be? There is no exact answer. Good turns into evil, good turns into evil. People have been confused about the reason for this positive and negative change for a long time. Therefore, a sage is independent but not isolated, honest and generous without hurting others, straightforward but not presumptuous, and radiant but not dazzling.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia - Misfortune lies on the back of blessing, and blessing lies on the back of misfortune