proverb · Words worth keeping
Wit bought is twice taught.
Wit bought is twice taught.
Understand the thought
Meaning in plain English
A lesson learned at a cost may leave a strong impression. The repeated teaching image values remembered experience, without making costly mistakes necessary or claiming that their lessons are always understood.
Example
A student who loses track of a draft after ignoring backup reminders begins saving versions regularly, while a classmate learns the same practice from the student’s account.
Deeper explanation and when to use it
Bought wit suggests understanding obtained through some expense or consequence rather than through explanation alone. Twice taught emphasises how that experience can reinforce a lesson already heard. The number is rhetorical, not a count of how learning works. Someone may recognise the cost clearly yet still need support or another explanation to understand what should change. The useful reading asks what the experience actually showed and how the next approach can be improved. It can acknowledge a memorable lesson without praising the loss, assigning blame or suggesting that advice and other people’s experience cannot also provide valuable understanding.
When to use it
Use it when an experienced consequence has reinforced a specific lesson.
Keep in mind
Cost does not guarantee learning; advice and shared experience can teach without repeating a mistake.
An interpretation of the words, not a claim about their earliest origin.
Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- Traditional
Attribution: traditional - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Date unknown
- Culture
- English