Perhaps a calque of Latin potius sero quam numquam from the 4th book[1] of Ab Urbe condita (History of Rome) by Titus Livius, around 27 BC.
better late than never
- It is better to do something late, than to never do it at all.
c. 27 BCE, Livy, Ab Urbe Condita [From the Founding of the City], published 1996:(please add the primary text of this quotation)- Their insolence and recklessness must be opposed, and better late than never.
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 (chí zuò zǒng bǐ bù zuò hǎo), 亡羊補牢/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 (eo)
- 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)
- Hebrew: עדיף מאוחר מאשר לעולם לא
- Hindi: जब जाति तब सवेरे (jab jāti tab savere)
- Hungarian: jobb későn, mint soha (hu)
- Irish: is fearr déanaí ná ródhéanaí, is fearr go deireanach ná go brách, is fearr go mall ná go brách
- Italian: meglio tardi che mai
- 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
- Mari:
- Eastern Mari: кызыт огыл гын, лучо вара (kyzyt ogyl gyn, lučo vara)
- 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), lepiej późno niż później
- Portuguese: antes tarde do que nunca (pt), mais vale tarde do que nunca
- 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
- Turkmen: hiçden giç ýagşy
- Ukrainian: кра́ще пі́зно, ніж ніко́ли (krášče pízno, niž nikóly)
- Urdu: دیر آئے درست آئے (der ā'ye durust ā'ye)
- Welsh: gwell rhywbryd na byth
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- ^ Butterfield, Bruce J. (1996) “Livy's History of Rome”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)[1] (HTML), Marquette University (mu.edu), archived from the original on 15 September 2012