better safe than sorry

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• Rhymes: -ɒɹi
• Hyphenation: bet‧ter safe than sor‧ry

better safe than sorry

1. It is preferable to be cautious in one's choices and actions than to act recklessly and suffer afterwards.
   • 1947 September and October, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 320:

     Moreover, apart from official restrictions, drivers do not a little easing of their engines on their own account, where they consider that the feel of the track makes this desirable; and they can hardly be blamed in consequence. It is better to be safe than sorry.

   • 1985, Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, “Take On Me”, in Hunting High and Low, performed by a-ha:

     But I'll be stumbling away / Slowly learning that life is OK / Say after me / It's no better to be safe than sorry

• err on the side of caution
• measure twice, cut once
• better late than never
• play it safe
• prevention is better than cure