Idiom Origins - Better late than never - History of Better late than never

Better late than never

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Origin of: Better late than never

Better late than never

Ancient Roman proverb first cited in Livy Histories Book IV (59 BC-17) “potius sero quam nunquam” but could well be even older than that. Chaucer was probably the first to use it in English in Canterbury Tales, Yeoman’s Prologue and Tale, c 1387.