English

Alternative forms

• forewarned, forearmed

Proverb

forewarned is forearmed

1. Advance awareness of a situation, especially a risky one, prepares one to deal with it.
   • 1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash, ch. 4:

     [W]hatever a young gentleman of that age says to you, he says to many other ladies; but your experience is not equal to your sense; so profit by mine . . . forewarned is forearmed.

   • 1885, G. A. Henty, Saint George for England, ch. 4:

     Sometimes, they say, it is wiser to remain in ignorance; at other times forewarned is forearmed.

   • c. 1903, Lucy Maud Montgomery, "Why Mr. Cropper Changed His Mind":

     "Well, Miss Maxwell, I think it only fair to tell you that you may have trouble with those boys when they do come. Forewarned is forearmed, you know."

Translations

References

1. ↑ Praemonitus Praemunitus was the title of a 1920 edition of the notorious anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. See also www.phrases.org.uk which states: "There's no evidence to show that the English proverb is merely a translation of the Latin though. The two sayings could easily have originated independently."