Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer.»
Word for word
Better a known bad thing than a good thing yet to be known.
What it really means
The closest English equivalent: Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
Used when someone prefers to stay in a familiar bad situation rather than risk an unknown change. Common in decisions about jobs and relationships.
Hear it in a sentence
Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer; prefiero quedarme en este trabajo aunque no me guste.
Better the devil you know than the devil you don't; I prefer to stay in this job even though I don't like it.
Why learn dichos?
Proverbs like this one are everywhere in spoken Spanish — dropped mid-conversation, usually just the first half, with the rest left for you to complete. Recognizing them is one of the fastest ways to sound less like a textbook and follow real speech. Every Lingocito edition signs off with the dicho del día, so you meet one a day next to news written at your exact level.