look before you leap

look before you leap

Carefully consider the possible consequences before taking action. If you deceive your boss now, what do you think will happen if he finds out about it? I mean, look before you leap!
See also: before, leap, look
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

Look before you leap.

Prov. Cliché Think carefully about what you are about to do before you do it. I'm not saying you shouldn't sign the lease for that apartment. I'm just saying you should look before you leap. Jill: I'm thinking about going to night school. Jane: Are you sure you can spare the time and the money? Look before you leap.
See also: before, leap, look
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

look before you leap

Think of the consequences before you act, as in You'd better check out all the costs before you buy a cellular phone-look before you leap . This expression alludes to Aesop's fable about the fox who is unable to climb out of a well and persuades a goat to jump in. The fox then climbs on the goat's horns to get out, while the goat remains trapped. [c. 1350]
See also: before, leap, look
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

look before you leap

you shouldn't act without first considering the possible consequences or dangers. proverb
See also: before, leap, look
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

ˌlook before you ˈleap

(saying) think carefully about the possible risks and effects before you decide to do something: I know you don’t like this job but don’t just accept the first job offered to you. Remember to look before you leap.
See also: before, leap, look
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

look before you leap

Consider the consequences before you act. This ancient adage, like so many others, has its roots in one of Aesop’s fables. The fox, unable to climb out of a well into which he fell, persuades the goat to jump in, too. He then climbs out by standing on the goat’s shoulders, leaving the goat in the well. “First loke and aftirward lepe” appeared in the Douce MS of about 1350. Charlotte Brontë used it ironically (for her time) in Shirley (1849): “When you feel tempted to marry . . . look twice before you leap.”
See also: before, leap, look
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • a plague on both your houses
  • futz
  • futz (one)
  • carry fire in one hand and water in the other
  • come it over
  • come it over (one)
  • deceive (someone) into (something)
  • deceive into
  • catfish
  • he who sups with the devil should have a long spoon
References in periodicals archive
Look before you leap into any projects and read before you sign anything.
YourStars WITH CLAIRE PETULENGRO
Look before you leap into any projects, and read before you sign anything.
Your stars
Tex Eastman, Plymouth Look before you leap Some 827 obstacles omitted over the 2008-09 season and they still call it jump racing.
CHATROOM
The word in the Blogosphere was that she hadn't "lopped it off," as one logger put it; the consensus was that this is one of those times when you really do want to look before you leap.
Double reversal
We placed signs over all thresholds: "Look before you leap."
Sweat Shop
As I have said a great many times, the lesson to any West Midlands company thinking of doing business in China is to look before you leap.
China is cleaning up its act but it is wise to remain cautious
Look before you leap. When a property owner appeals, the township can defend the appeal or, as sometimes is the case, file a cross appeal to raise the assessment.
Real estate tax appeals: overcoming presumption of correctness
* Look before you leap. Teach your child how to cross the street safely.
Study: drivers stop too close to school buses
Please look before you leap as this move needs to be considered.
PSYCHIC POSTBAG; stars
1: Look before you leap. If you are thinking of keeping chickens, make sure that you have the time to give the birds all the care they need.
Top ten tips for keeping chickens
A fine film of English Breakfast Tea now covers my keyboard where I sprayed it upon reading his account of a know-it-all professor who got his comeuppance during a family outing to gather morel mushrooms ("Look Before You Leap, or Pick Mushrooms," Page 31).
Mules, mud, morels and mental health
In the session "Look Before You Leap: What to Know About Mergers and Acquisitions," J.
Private company forum, Chicago
* Look before you leap. Avoid objects that are floating or submerged.
Diving in: what you should know before taking the plunge
"Globalization" today is about the privatization of drinking water and government services, not merely the internationalization of automobile production; biopiracy and the struggle to prevent converting the knowledge (and even the body elements) of indigenous peoples into commodities, not merely the ravages of international oil prospecting; demanding the application of the precautionary principle ("look before you leap") embodied in the basic EU treaty and in more than forty US laws from the pre-Reagan era, when the government was interested in consumer protection, to new international documents; fighting for--and using--transparency in government in order to provide critical oversight; supporting brothers and sisters in other countries in their struggles against oppression.
Globalization, what is it good for?
A staunch defender of the precautionary principle, Meadows urged readers to "look before you leap," in a "Global Citizen" column last December.
IN BRIEF