WonderQuote1,011 of 1,961

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere's Fan

Literature

Why it matters

The idea in context

Wilde makes failure elegant without softening it: a mistake becomes useful only when it teaches you.

Türkçe

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Deneyim, hatalarımıza verdiğimiz addan ibarettir.

Oscar Wilde, Lady Windermere'in Yelpazesi

Wilde başarısızlığı yumuşatmadan zarif kılar: Bir hata ancak sana öğrettiğinde yararlı olur.

Source trail

Read beyond the card.

Lady Windermere's Fan; public-domain text.

Background reading: Oscar WildeAttribution and context are revised when stronger evidence appears. Corrections are welcome through the editorial page.

Open in the iPhone app Editorial method

Next in the open archiveNo one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.Q1042

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

The idea in context

Aynı kart, başka bir dilde.

Read beyond the card.

Keep following this thread.

Byzantine scholars preserved and copied many ancient Greek works that might otherwise have been lost.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.

Give me liberty, or give me death!

The word "mentor" comes from Mentor in Homer's Odyssey. Athena guides Telemachus while appearing as Mentor, which helped the name become linked with trusted guidance.

"Clue" comes from "clew", a ball of thread. The modern sense of a guiding hint is linked to stories like Ariadne giving Theseus thread to escape the labyrinth.