Don't count your chickens before they hatch. — English proverb · Smartyfair

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

English proverb

Source foundWisdomAncientAnimals

In plain words

Don't celebrate something before it has actually happened.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is: 78% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
What turned up: Earliest English print: Thomas Howell, New Sonnets and Pretty Pamphlets (1570), 'Counte not thy Chickens that vnhatched be'; confirmed in Butler's Hudibras (1663). The Aesop link is folklore, not established
Work: Thomas Howell, New Sonnets and Pretty Pamphlets
Occasion: 1570
Sources checked: phrases.org.ukChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Howell 1570 and Butler 1663 citations; Aesop link flagged as uncertain

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