Learn English – Idiom for trying to avoid misfortune, but it happens anyway

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Is there an idiom, proverb or expression in English describing a situation in which a person is trying really hard to avoid misfortune (by taking precautions) but what exactly he`s trying to distance himself/herself from, eventually gets him/her (befalls him/her)?

"You can`t run away from your destiny" is too broad to convey the same idea expressed in my question. It is more specific and describes a situation in which a person is cautious, thus trying to prevent himself from getting in trouble but in spite of everything, what a person has been afraid for a long time finally gets him.

Best Answer

I'm not sure if these phrases are exactly what you want, but these are what I can suggest:

  • backfire: (of a plan) to have the opposite result from the one you intended
  • You can't cheat fate.
  • If something can go wrong, it will. (Murphy's law)
  • A bad penny always turns up. (This proverb refers to the recurrence of any unwanted event. It means someone or something that is unpleasant or unwanted, will always return or appear.)
  • what you fear will come to pass. ("Come to pass" means "to take place")
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