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Origin documented
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”
What it means
Small precautions save large remedies.
Where it comes from
Sixteen ounces make an avoirdupois pound, so the ratio is a clean sixteen to one. The proverb is an argument about proportion made in units everyone could weigh.
How sure are we?
Popularised by Benjamin Franklin in 1735, writing about fire prevention in Philadelphia rather than about medicine at all. The medical reading came later.