il a de la corde de pendu dans sa poche

A piece of the rope with which a man had been hanged was, and is even now, considered as a charm against ill-luck. Archbishop Trench adduces other proverbs in reference to the man whose luck never forsakes him, so that from the very things which would be another man’s ruin, he extricates himself not only without harm but with credit: e.g. the Arabic: “Cast him into the Nile, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth”; the German: “Würf er einen Groschen aufs Dach, fiel ihm ein Taler herunter” = If he threw a penny on to the roof, a dollar would come back to him.