This lasting change can essentially be achieved in two ways: through suffering or through wisdom. Either we painfully push forward through any obstacle or disappointment, learning our lessons the hard way and emerging from the experience more mature, or we choose a path of love, consciousness, and wisdom, which also makes us mature, but in a far more enjoyable and effective manner.

Meaning: Your own mistakes can teach caution, but another person’s experience may offer the same lesson without the same cost. Listen for relevant lessons before repeating an avoidable error.

Meaning: A lesson that costs something can make its consequences easier to remember. The saying values learning from experience, without requiring costly mistakes or treating every painful experience as an improvement.

Meaning: Affection can become excessive indulgence when it prevents a child from learning limits or acting independently. The saying questions how care is expressed, rather than suggesting that a child needs less love.

Meaning: Affection or personal attachment can make someone see what is theirs as especially admirable. The saying points to partial judgement without making a loved person or cherished work objectively inferior.