Part 13: Look Before You Leap
Look before you leap means you shouldn't act without first considering the possible consequences or dangers, or you should make sure everything is alright before doing something you cannot reverse.
Here are several examples:
(1) "This job is not as good as I thought. I should have looked before I leapt."
(2) "If the deal is too good to be true, look before you leap."
(3) "You should look before you leap into relationships."
The earliest known use of the phrase is in Aesop's Fables, a collection of short stories attributed to Aesop, a Greek storyteller of the sixth century BC.
In one of his stories, The Fox and the Goat, a Fox fell into a well and could not get out.
Later, a thirsty Goat came by, and seeing Fox in the well, asked him if the water was good.
"Good?" said the Fox, "it's the best water I ever tasted in all my life. Come down and try it yourself."
The Goat thought of nothing but the prospect of quenching his thirst and jumped in at once. When he had had enough to drink, he looked about, like the Fox, for some way of getting out but could find none.
The Fox said, "I have an idea. You stand on your hind legs and plant your forelegs firmly against the side of the well, and then I'll climb onto your back, and, from there, by stepping on your horns, I can get out. And when I'm out, I'll help you out too."
The Goat did as requested, and the Fox climbed onto his back and so out of the well, and then he coolly walked away.
The Goat called loudly after him and reminded him of his promise to help him out; but the Fox merely turned and said, "If you had as much sense in your head as you have hair in your beard, you wouldn't have got into the well without making certain that you could get out again. You should have looked before you leapt."
