Grandpa Lurkin lived his entire life in California. He said that as long as there are little earthquakes, there won’t be a big one.
I've heard that too. I remember a bunch of little earthquakes in the 1950's and 1960's in the Bay Area. Then a decline through the 1970's and 1980's until the big one in 1989 (Loma Prieta). One quake, I think in the late 1950's or early 1960's knocked the front facade off a home two blocks from me in SF. So even though I said little earthquakes, they felt huge enough to make me run out into the street, probably 4's or 5's. Not so much in the 1980's, hardly any that I felt. But I haven't felt many in the early 2000's or 2010's either until this month here in SSF. I'm speaking in regards to SF Bay Area only, not all California. I think we're safe on the San Andreas Fault for a long while, not so sure of the Hayward Fault which has been relatively quiet.