A stupid man never learns from his mistakes.
A smart man learns from his mistakes.
A wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
We recently moved into our new home, and as part of this adventure, I’ve been assembling the yard and outdoor structures. Along the way, I’ve had a dear friend and sage mentor by my side—Ellis Taylor. Ellis has lived a lot of life and, without ever being asked, has become our informal inspector. He’s helped me with more projects than I can count.
Several weeks ago, Ellis drove up to help me build a shed for my snowblower and power tools. When we finished, it looked shiny as a new penny—solid, sturdy, and perched beautifully on the ridgeline. Later that day, Ellis called me and said, “Rich, I think you need to bolt that shed down or weigh it with a barrel of water. The winds up there will bust it to pieces.”
I chuckled. “Ellis, that shed is rock solid.”
Three days later, a huge microburst rolled through. It picked that shed up like a rag doll and scattered screws and panels all over the hillside. Embarrassed, I called Ellis and admitted, “Brother, you were right.”
The irony? Ellis had even shared a story with me once about a trampoline in his neighborhood that blew off and landed on top of a three-story home. The wisdom was there: I just didn’t listen.
It’s so much easier when we learn from the sages and wisdom of the past. Free agency gives us the chance to make our own choices, but wisdom whispers that we don’t have to make all the mistakes ourselves. And sometimes the hardest pill to swallow is that the wisdom we need might even come from those younger than us.
So here’s my reminder to myself (and maybe to you): let’s be wise enough to learn from others, humble enough to accept advice, and generous enough to pass down what we’ve learned so our children and grandchildren don’t have to learn every lesson the hard way.
—In wisdom and learning,
Rich
What does “a wise man learns from the mistakes of others” mean?
It means you don’t have to pay full price for every lesson. A stupid man makes the same mistake twice. A smart man learns after it hurts him. A wise man watches, listens, and lets someone else’s scar do the teaching.
I knew that. I still let a microburst teach me about my shed.
Who said it?
The saying is usually credited to Otto von Bismarck, the German statesman, who is quoted as saying that only a fool learns from his own mistakes, while the wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
The idea is much older than Bismarck. Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” Proverbs 13:20 puts it even shorter: “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.”
How to learn from other people’s mistakes
- Ask before you build. Find someone who has done the thing and ask what they would do differently.
- Listen to advice you didn’t ask for. Ellis wasn’t invited to inspect my shed. He was right anyway.
- Read the stories of the people who went before you. Every family has a few hard lessons already paid for.
- Take advice from younger people too. Wisdom doesn’t check your age first.
- Pass your own lessons down. Tell your children and grandchildren what it cost you, so they don’t have to buy it again.
I write one of these lessons every week in a short letter. Get my free weekly letters.
