防患未然

Pronunciation: fáng huàn wèi rán Literal meaning: Prevent troubles before they occur

Origin & Usage

The Book of Changes gives the underlying instruction — the superior person thinks about trouble and guards against it beforehand — and this is its compressed form: guard against (防) the calamity (患) that has not yet (未) happened (然). What distinguishes it from ordinary caution is the tense. It concerns the problem that does not exist, which is the hardest kind to spend money or attention on, and it turns up in exactly the arguments where that is the difficulty: maintenance budgets, safety procedure, seeing a doctor while still well.

Examples

English: "By planning ahead, the company avoided potential crises."

Chinese: 通过提前规划，公司防患未然。