long before
Examples
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there long before any of us.
Most of us become parents long before we have stopped being children.
Remember to dig the well long before you get thirsty.
If men were now to turn their hostility towards the cat, it would not be long before the domestic cat becomes a wild animal.
If you let them put the calf on your shoulders, it will not be long before they clap on the cow.