French: "Ne pas prévoir c’est déjà gémir"English translation: "Not to anticipate is already to moan" 
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| GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | | French term or phrase: | "Ne pas prévoir c’est déjà gémir" | | English translation: | "Not to anticipate is already to moan" | | Entered by: | PHYSICIST |
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French to English translations [PRO]
Marketing - Law: Contract(s) | | French term or phrase: "Ne pas prévoir c’est déjà gémir" | A quote from Leonardo da Vinci. Obviously drummed into kids in French schools to reinforce the virtues of preparation because it comes up a lot.
Context : advice to monitor and keep ahead of what the competition is doing by way of advertising.
I am looking for a canonical English version, if such exists. I think I understand its meaning, so a gloss is not required. I would be grateful to hear from any of the learned folk out there who might know how it appears in a dictionary of quotations or a list of aphorisms, etc
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| | | Selected response from:
 PHYSICIST
Mexico
| Note from asker to answererThanks - very helpful. This shows up on other sites as well.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer |
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44 mins confidence:   |
| Just a thought...........
Explanation:
What occurs to me is "Ignorance is no defence/(defense)".
Bear in mind that I am a native speaker of hiberno-English who has been resident in the US for 24 years. My confidence level reflects that!~
| roneill
United States
Native speaker of:  English
PRO pts in category: 4
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1 hr confidence: peer agreement (net): +2 |
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The translation workplace 
