In all things, prepare before the storm — don't wait until a crisis hits to respond.
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This idiom comes from the Book of Songs (诗经 Shījīng), the oldest collection of Chinese poetry. The original verse describes a bird mending its nest with mulberry bark before the rains come — a metaphor for forethought.
memory
未 (not yet) + 雨 (rain) + 绸缪 (to bind/wind around) — before it rains, bind things up. Picture wrapping your belongings with silk before a storm.
