Prevention is better than cure.
Meaning: Stopping problems before they start costs less effort and suffering than fixing them afterward.
Origin: The idea is ancient, and the Dutch scholar Erasmus gave it in Latin as praestat cautela quam medela. Benjamin Franklin gave it its best-known American form in a 1735 letter on protecting towns from fire — "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" — writing about fire safety in Philadelphia.
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Every path hath a puddle. — Life's inevitable obstacles cannot be avoided, only navigated with patience and acceptanc…
- Puff not against the wind. — Wasting energy on futile resistance exhausts you; work with circumstances instead of agai…
- Be ruled by your purse. — Financial constraints should dictate your decisions and discipline your ambitions more th…
- Wrinkled purses make wrinkled faces. — Poverty and financial hardship leave visible marks of stress and worry upon a person's ap…
- Anything for a quiet life. — Compromising principles for peace often costs more than the temporary harmony it buys.
- Small rain lays great dust. — Gentle persistence dissolves entrenched problems that seem immovable through force alone.
From our idioms
- Faire le pied de grue — To stand around waiting for a long time.
- Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps — A single encouraging sign does not prove a trend.
- Crier haro sur le baudet — To denounce someone publicly and unanimously.