Misfortunes seldom come alone.

A setback often arrives alongside other troubles. The saying expresses the familiar feeling that bad luck can cluster, so that one difficulty is followed or accompanied by another.

It is usually a rueful observation, not a prediction that further hardship is inevitable. It can acknowledge someone’s run of problems and the way compounding circumstances make a single misfortune harder to bear.

Use it when several unwelcome events occur close together, such as an expense arising during another personal or practical problem. Its resigned tone can convey sympathy, but when addressing another person’s hardship, pair it with empathy or practical assistance rather than treating it as a substitute for support.