ProverbWisdom
American origin1743
American origin1743Experience is a dear school, but it is the only one we are apt to learn in.
Meaning: Costly mistakes teach us what lectures cannot: wisdom requires personal suffering to become truly ours.
Origin: Adapted from Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack (1743): "Experience keeps a dear school, yet fools will learn in no other." A dear school is an expensive one; the lessons of experience are paid for in mistakes.
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