Hindsight is 20/20
Meaning: Past decisions are always clearer in retrospect.
Origin: "20/20" is the measure of normal eyesight on the eye chart devised by the Dutch ophthalmologist Herman Snellen in 1862: seeing at 20 feet what a normal eye sees at 20 feet. By the 1940s American slang used "twenty-twenty" to mean excellent, and "20/20 hindsight" — seeing clearly, too late, what should have been done — followed in the decades after.
Equivalents in French, Spanish, Japanese, and German
- French: Avec des si, on mettrait Paris en bouteille (literally: With 'ifs,' you could put Paris in a bottle)
- Spanish: Del dicho al hecho, hay mucho trecho (literally: From saying to doing, there's a long stretch)
- Japanese: 後知恵は完璧 (Atojie wa kanpeki) (literally: Hindsight is perfect)
- German: Hinterher ist man immer klüger (literally: Afterwards one is always wiser)
More proverbs about Wisdom
- Let sleeping dogs lie — Don't stir up trouble that has settled down.
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away — Regular healthy habits prevent illness.
- There's method in the madness — Apparent chaos may have an underlying purpose.
- The devil is in the details — Small details can cause major problems.
- All good things must come to an end — Nothing pleasant lasts forever.
- Half a loaf is better than none — Something is better than nothing.
From our idioms
- faire ses choux gras — Profiting greatly from a situation at someone else's expense.
- avoir un tuyau — Having inside information or a useful tip about something.
- être à court de — Lacking or running low on something essential.