Advice comes too late when a thing is done.

Meaning: Counsel offered after the deed is already done is worthless.

Origin: A saying found in several European languages, including Romanian. Counsel is only useful before the act; once the deed is done, advice can only lament it.

Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, German, Italian, and 3 more languages

French: À chose faite, conseil pris (literally: When a thing is done, advice is taken)
Spanish: A burro muerto, la cebada al rabo (literally: When the donkey is dead, the barley at its tail)
Japanese: 後の祭り (Ato no matsuri) (literally: After the festival (too late to be of use))
German: Rat nach der Tat kommt zu spät (literally: Advice after the deed comes too late)
Italian: Dopo il fatto il consiglio non vale (literally: After the deed, advice is worthless)
Portuguese: Casa roubada, trancas à porta (literally: House robbed, then bolts on the door)
Dutch: Als het kalf verdronken is, dempt men de put (literally: When the calf has drowned, they fill in the well)
Russian: После драки кулаками не машут (Posle draki kulakami ne mashut) (literally: You don't swing your fists after the fight)

On the map

Too late now

The same idea in 18 versions, colored by the picture each one uses. Each country shows the version in its main language.

World map: locking up too late (English, Italian, Portuguese (Portugal), Turkish, Korean, Thai); too late to save it (Spanish (Spain), Dutch, German, Czech, Persian, Tagalog); after it’s all over (Russian, Polish, French, Hungarian, Greek, Japanese).

Download the full map with every saying (PNG)See all world maps

7 more languages on the map

Italian Chiudere la stalla dopo che i buoi sono scappati“To close the stable after the oxen have run off”Source: Wikiquote (Italian sayings); WordReference
Turkish Atı alan Üsküdar'ı geçti“The one who took the horse is already past Üsküdar”Source: Eğitim Sistem; Bilgenç (Turkish idiom references)
Thai วัวหายล้อมคอก (Wua hai lom khok)“Fence the pen once the cow is gone”Source: TruePlookPanya (Thai learning portal); WordyGuru
German Den Brunnen zudecken, wenn das Kind hineingefallen ist“To cover the well once the child has fallen in”Source: Duden; Bavarian Dictionary (Bavarian Academy of Sciences)
Tagalog Aanhin pa ang damo kung patay na ang kabayo“What use is the grass if the horse is already dead?”Source: Northern Illinois University SEAsite (Tagalog); Filipino proverbs (Wikipedia)
Hungarian Eső után köpönyeg“A raincoat after the rain”Source: Wiktionary; We Love Budapest
Greek Κατόπιν εορτής (Katópin eortís)“After the feast”Source: Wiktionary; Liddell–Scott Greek lexicon (from Plato's Gorgias)