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Discretion is the better part of valor

  1. Caution is preferable to rash bravery. Said by Falstaff in King Henry the Fourth, Part One , by William Shakespeare .


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Idioms and Phrases

It is better to be prudent than merely courageous, as in I'm signing up for the easy course first; discretion is the better part of valor . This proverb, a synonym of look before you leap , was first recorded in 1477. Charles Churchill put it in poetic form: “Even in a hero's heart, Discretion is the better part” ( The Ghost , 1762). Shakespeare also used a form of it: “The better part of valor is discretion” ( 1 Henry IV , 5:4).

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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