Better safe than sorry. — English proverb · Smartyfair

Better safe than sorry.

English proverb

Source not found yetWisdom1800s

In plain words

It's smarter to be careful now than to regret it later.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 52% sureThe sources checked so far agree on this one. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up: Earliest print form ('better sure than sorry') traced to Samuel Lover's novel Rory O'More (1837); the exact wording 'better safe than sorry' is documented as only becoming a fixed cliché in the mid-20th century.
Work: Samuel Lover, Rory O'More
Occasion: 1837
Sources checked: phrases.org.ukChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 20261837 Lover novel citation; notes exact phrase became a cliché mid-1900s

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