ProverbWisdom
Italian origin
Italian originDel senno di poi son piene le fosse
Meaning: Wisdom after the event is useless.
Literally: The graves are full of wisdom after the fact
Example: “Adesso è facile dire che non dovevamo investire. Del senno di poi son piene le fosse.” — It's easy to say now that we shouldn't have invested: hindsight is 20/20.
Equivalents in English, French, Japanese, German, Russian, and 2 more languages
English: Hindsight is 20/20
French: Avec des si, on mettrait Paris en bouteille (literally: With 'ifs,' you could put Paris in a bottle)
Japanese: 下種の後知恵 (Gesu no atojie) (literally: A lowly person's wisdom after the fact)
German: Hinterher ist man immer klüger (literally: Afterwards one is always wiser)
Russian: Русский человек задним умом крепок (Russkiy chelovek zadnim umom krepok) (literally: A Russian is strong in hindsight)
Polish: Mądry Polak po szkodzie (literally: A Pole is wise after the damage)
Chinese: 事后诸葛亮 (Shìhòu Zhūgě Liàng) (literally: A Zhuge Liang after the event)
Origin: Fosse here are graves: they are full of people who knew afterwards what they should have done. Manzoni has a character call it an old proverb in The Betrothed (chapter 24). Senno di poi, "after-sense," is the everyday Italian word for hindsight.
Explore another collection: Idioms
Colorful expressions from dozens of languages, with their word-for-word translations.
- Non ci piove There's no doubt about it whatsoever.
- Non avere peli sulla lingua To speak bluntly and hold nothing back.
- Liscio come l'olio To go off without a hitch.
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