better late than never

English

Etymology

Perhaps a calque of the Latin phrase potiusque sero quam numquam from the 4th book of Ab Urbe condita (History of Rome) by Titus Livius, around 27 BC.

Adverb

better late than never

1. It's better to do something late, than to never do it at all.
   • 1996. Titus Livius (translation). Livy's History of Rome (in English):

     Their insolence and recklessness must be opposed, and better late than never.

Translations

it’s better to do something late, than to never do it at all

• Albanian: më mirë vonë se kurrë
• Arabic: أَن يَأْتِي مُتَأَخِّرًا خَيْر مِن أَلَّا يَأْتِي أَبَدًا (ʔan yaʔtī mutaʔaḵḵiran ḵayr min ʔallā yaʔtī ʔabadan)
• Armenian: լավ է ուշ, քան երբեք (lav ē uš, kʻan erbekʻ)
• Basque: hobe da berandu sekula baino
• Breton: gwelloc'h diwezhat eget gwech ebet
• Bulgarian: по-добре късно отколкото никога (po-dobre kǎsno otkolkoto nikoga)
• Catalan: més val tard que no mai
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 遲做總比不做好／迟做总比不做好, 迟做总比不做好 (chí zuò zǒng bǐ bù zuò hǎo), 亡羊補牢／亡羊补牢 (zh) (wángyángbǔláo), 亡羊补牢 (zh) (wángyángbǔláo)

• Czech: lepší pozdě než nikdy
• Danish: bedre sent end aldrig
• Dutch: beter laat dan nooit
• Esperanto: pli bone malfrue ol neniam
• Estonian: parem hilja kui mitte kunagi
• Finnish: parempi myöhään kuin ei milloinkaan
• French: mieux vaut tard que jamais (fr)
• Georgian: სჯობს გვიან ვიდრე არასდროს (sǯobs gvian vidre arasdros)
• German: besser spät als nie
• Greek: κάλλιο αργά παρά ποτέ (kállio argá pará poté)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hebrew: עדיף מאוחר מאשר לעולם לא
• Hungarian: jobb későn, mint soha (hu)
• Italian: meglio tardi che mai, non è mai troppo tardi
• Japanese: 遅くてもやらないよりまし (おそくてもやらないよりまし, osokutemo yaranai yori mashi)
• Kazakh: ештен кеш жақсы (eşten keş jaqsy)
• Latin: potius sero quam numquam, potiusque sero quam numquam
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bedre sent enn aldri, bedre seint enn aldri

  Nynorsk: betre seint enn aldri

• Persian: دیر آید و شیر آید (Dir âyad o šir âyad)
• Polish: lepiej późno niż wcale (pl)
• Portuguese: antes tarde do que nunca (pt)
• Romanian: mai bine mai târziu decât niciodată
• Russian: лу́чше по́здно, чем никогда́ (lúčše pózdno, čem nikogdá)
• Slovene: bolje pozno kot nikoli
• Spanish: más vale tarde que nunca (es), nunca es tarde si la dicha es buena
• Swedish: bättre sent än aldrig (sv)
• Turkish: geç olsun da güç olmasın
• Welsh: gwell rhywbryd na byth

See also

• better safe than sorry