Experience Is the Best Teacher

Experience teaches the Art of Living.

Experience is the best teacher. Her great subject is the Art of Living. No one can teach us this as well as she can. She is a stern schoolmistress. She sets us hard lessons, punishes us severely for inattention and stupidity, and charges very high fees. But what she teaches, she teaches thoroughly. We never forget her lessons. The worst of it is that we sometimes learn her lessons too late.

“Experience takes dreadfully high school wages, but he teaches like no other”.

-Thomas Carlyle.

We break all the rules of health in our youth by self-indulgence and vice. By the time we realize our mistakes our health is wrecked for life. the right way of living; too late to be of any use to us.

“Experience is the comb that Nature gives us after we are bald”.

-Belgian Proverb

We learn by experience

One might think that we should be glad to learn how to live right by the experience of our forefathers, as recorded in books, or as taught by the advice of our elders. But somehow many young people do not. They scoff at warnings and advice and go their own way.

You may warn a child again and again against playing with matches, but he does not believe you until he scorches his hands. After that "the burnt child dreads the fire".

You may tell a boy not to meddle with stray dogs; but he does not listen, till he gets a nasty bite from one. After that "once bitten, twice shy". He has to learn from experience, and her lessons he will not forget.

In the same way, older people have to learn for themselves, often by bitter experience, such old truths as,

"Honesty is the best policy", "All is not gold that glitters"

"A rolling stone gathers no moss", "He who touches pitch is defiled"

"The way of transgressors is hard", "Waste not, want not"

"Cut your coat according to your clothe", "No pains, no gains"

"A fool and his money are soon parted", "Look before you leap" &

"The way of transgressors is hard". In such old proverbs, much wisdom gained by experience has been preserved.

It is by suffering we learn patience; by facing danger we learn courage; by sorrow, we learn sympathy; by mistakes, we learn wisdom.

It depends on us whether the lessons of experience are pleasant or unpleasant.

But all the lessons taught by experience are not unpleasant. Whether they are pleasant or unpleasant depends on us. For we can just as easily learn from experience that honesty pays in the long run, as that dishonesty does not; that temperance maintains health, as that excess ruins body and soul; that kindness to others brings us joy, as that selfishness breeds unhappiness; and that hard work brings success, as that idleness spells failure.

In my opinion, as an introvert, my beautifully scarred life is a private affair. It’s not that I have things to hide which might destroy anyone's life, it’s just that sometimes some experiences are the best kept secret just to protect our sanity. We learn from experience through observing and encountering according to the state of mind we might be in that particular second, minute, week, month, or even year!

“Experience is a private, very largely speechless affair”.

- James Baldwin

The range of human experiences varies and, as humans, it’s our responsibility to share our knowledge and practical wisdom gained from the trials of our lives.

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U.Rdiya.