Dicho español · Spanish proverb
«Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer.»
¿Cómo se dice «Más vale malo conocido que bueno por conocer» en inglés? Better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
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.
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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.
More Spanish sayings
- De perdidos, al río. — In for a penny, in for a pound.
- Más vale ser cabeza de ratón que cola de león. — Better to be first in a village than second in Rome.
- La suerte favorece a los audaces. — Fortune favors the bold.
- Más vale solo que mal acompañado. — Better alone than in bad company.
- El que tiene padrino se bautiza. — It's not what you know, it's who you know.
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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 level.