Not one specific person said it. It is known as a proverb. A proverb is something that is said that holds some truth to life and is passed down from generation to generation in a community. Here is a...
It means that when people get into trouble, for example financial trouble, they may be "backed into a corner" and feel forced to do things they wouldn't normally do in terms of survival. For example,...
It may be so old a saying that you won't be able to find an original attribution.
To go a bit older than 1964:
according to the Oxford dictionary in quotations, on the 6th November 1605, Guy...