--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We should live and learn; but by the time…" description: "\"We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned, it's too late to live.\" — Carolyn Wells" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a0/carolyn-wells-10684_knowledge_we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time_2196794.jpg" --- # We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned… ![“We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned, it's too late to live.” quote by Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a0/carolyn-wells-10684_knowledge_we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time_2196794.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a0/carolyn-wells-10684_knowledge_we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time_2196794.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a0/carolyn-wells-10684_knowledge_we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time_2196794.jpg) > “We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned, it's too late to live.” [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Learning often comes after missed opportunities, implying that by the time we understand something, it may be too late to apply it. **In simple terms:** We learn too late to benefit from the lesson. Key Takeaway Act on insights promptly. Themes learning timing regret Mood motivational cautionary Type personal inspirational When to use this quote - career planning - personal development - health decisions - financial investing Key Concepts psychology experience decision theory Questions to Reflect On - What can you do to act on lessons sooner? - How does regret shape future choices? A Different Perspective Procrastination can make lessons irrelevant. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/late/) [Learn Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learn-time-864127/) [Learned Late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learned-late-240723/) [Live and learn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/live-and-learn/) [Live Learn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/live-learn/) [Should](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/should/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Too late](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/too-late/) [Ve Learned](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ve-learned/) ## Related quotes > [“WHat I learned is, it's never too late to save anybody. And it's always too late. And what are the chances you'll make any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-palahniuk/what-i-learned-is-it-s-never-too-late-to-save-anybody-and-it-s-always/) [Chuck Palahniuk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-palahniuk/) > [The lessons of experience are always learned too late.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-sand/the-lessons-of-experience-are-always-learned-too-late/) [George Sand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-sand/) > [I have regrets, but you live and learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-arthur/i-have-regrets-but-you-live-and-learn/) [James Arthur](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-arthur/) > [Better to live and learn, than to never of lived at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/better-to-live-and-learn-than-to-never-of-lived-at-all/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [You live and learn. At any rate, you live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/you-live-and-learn-at-any-rate-you-live/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [As an actor, you’ve got to live and learn, and you gotta just kind of form a hard shell and be confident in yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-stroup/as-an-actor-you-ve-got-to-live-and-learn-and-you-gotta-just-kind-of/) [Jessica Stroup](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-stroup/) > [Tables turn, bridges burn, you live and learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/drake/tables-turn-bridges-burn-you-live-and-learn/) [Drake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/drake/) > [Live and learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/teady/live-and-learn/) [$Teady](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/teady/) > [You live and learn. Or you don't live long.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/you-live-and-learn-or-you-don-t-live-long/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [I think you live and learn every day on the job.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/will-muschamp/i-think-you-live-and-learn-every-day-on-the-job/) [Will Muschamp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/will-muschamp/) > [We're still who we are at the roots. I reckon, hopefully, you let it branch out a little bit and you learn. You live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eddie-montgomery/we-re-still-who-we-are-at-the-roots-i-reckon-hopefully-you-let-it/) [Eddie Montgomery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eddie-montgomery/) > [Live and learn and pass it on.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-jackson-brown-jr/live-and-learn-and-pass-it-on/) [H. Jackson Brown, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-jackson-brown-jr/) > [“We don’t live and learn; we live and confirm discredited patterns of understanding.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simon-parke/we-don-t-live-and-learn-we-live-and-confirm-discredited-patterns-of/) [Simon Parke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simon-parke/) > [I'm not here to tell anybody what to do. You live and learn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marky-ramone/i-m-not-here-to-tell-anybody-what-to-do-you-live-and-learn/) [Marky Ramone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marky-ramone/) > [You can live and learn, but you cannot learn to live. So just live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-j-mclean/you-can-live-and-learn-but-you-cannot-learn-to-live-so-just-live/) [A. J. McLean](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-j-mclean/) ## More by Carolyn Wells > [“Adversity is neither friend nor foe. It is a common acquaintance whose presence is least desired, but most rewarding when embraced."- Carolyn Wells, Start…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/adversity-is-neither-friend-nor-foe-it-is-a-common-acquaintance-whose/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [Invitation is the sincerest flattery.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/invitation-is-the-sincerest-flattery/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [It is the interest one takes in books that makes a library. And if a library have interest it is; if not, it isn't.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/it-is-the-interest-one-takes-in-books-that-makes-a-library-and-if-a/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [Society's the mother of convention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/society-s-the-mother-of-convention/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [Happiness is the ability to recognize it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/happiness-is-the-ability-to-recognize-it/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [ There are many ways of discarding \[books\]. You can give them to friends,--or enemies,--or to associations or to poor Southern libraries. But the surest… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/there-are-many-ways-of-discarding-books-you-can-give-them-to-friends/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [I hate to do what everybody else is doing. Why, only last week, on Fifth Avenue and some cross streets, I noticed that every…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/i-hate-to-do-what-everybody-else-is-doing-why-only-last-week-on-fifth/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull, and dry The books that we would like to read we are ashamed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/the-books-we-think-we-ought-to-read-are-poky-dull-and-dry-the-books/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [Youth is a silly, vapid state, Old age with fears and ills is rife, This simple boon I beg of Fate - A thousand…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/youth-is-a-silly-vapid-state-old-age-with-fears-and-ills-is-rife-this/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [You wouldn't believe On All Hallow Eve What lots of fun we can make, With apples to bob, And nuts on the hob, And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/you-wouldn-t-believe-on-all-hallow-eve-what-lots-of-fun-we-can-make/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [Where there's a will there's a detective story.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/where-there-s-a-will-there-s-a-detective-story/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [“Adversity is neither friend nor foe. It is a common acquaintance that is desired less and rewarded most when embraced.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/adversity-is-neither-friend-nor-foe-it-is-a-common-acquaintance-that/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [Flirtation envies Love, and Love envies Flirtation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/flirtation-envies-love-and-love-envies-flirtation/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [I view askance a book that remains undisturbed for a year. Oughtn't it to have a ticket of leave? I think I may safely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/i-view-askance-a-book-that-remains-undisturbed-for-a-year-oughtn-t-it/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) > [All through the nineties I met people. Crowds of people. Met and met and met, until it seemed that people were born and hastily…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/all-through-the-nineties-i-met-people-crowds-of-people-met-and-met/) [Carolyn Wells](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) [Explore all 64 Carolyn Wells quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/) ## More Knowledge quotes > [“Knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rabelaise/knowledge-without-conscience-is-but-the-ruin-of-the-soul/) [Rabelaise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rabelaise/) > [For successful education there must always be a certain freshness in the knowledge dealt with. It must be either new in itself or invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/for-successful-education-there-must-always-be-a-certain-freshness-in/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [Nothing is so powerful as an insight into human nature... what compulsions drive a man, what instincts dominate his action. If you know these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-bernbach/nothing-is-so-powerful-as-an-insight-into-human-nature-what/) [William Bernbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-bernbach/) > [But I already saw no great difference between the psyche and spirituality. To amass knowledge without becoming wise is not my idea of progress…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/m-scott-peck/but-i-already-saw-no-great-difference-between-the-psyche-and/) [M. Scott Peck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/m-scott-peck/) > [If we will not interfere with our thought, but will act entirely, or see how the thing stands in God, we know the particular…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/if-we-will-not-interfere-with-our-thought-but-will-act-entirely-or/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [An enlightened awareness is within each one of us, right at this moment. This enlightened awareness is truly unborn and marvellously illuminating; and everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bankei-yotaku/an-enlightened-awareness-is-within-each-one-of-us-right-at-this/) [Bankei Yotaku](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bankei-yotaku/) > [One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/one-of-the-deepest-and-strangest-of-all-human-moods-is-the-mood-which/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“I never knew any man who had once tasted the sweetness of experimental knowledge, that ever afterward fasted after ye Vapour garlick and onions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-zimmer/i-never-knew-any-man-who-had-once-tasted-the-sweetness-of/) [Carl Zimmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-zimmer/) > [I would rather excel others in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my powers and dominion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/i-would-rather-excel-others-in-the-knowledge-of-what-is-excellent/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [We know accurately only when we know little, with knowledge doubt increases.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/we-know-accurately-only-when-we-know-little-with-knowledge-doubt/) [Johann Wolfgang von Goethe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-wolfgang-von-goethe/) > [I've always been a believer in research. It's great to have an instinctual human reaction to a character, too, of course, but it has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chiwetel-ejiofor/i-ve-always-been-a-believer-in-research-it-s-great-to-have-an/) [Chiwetel Ejiofor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chiwetel-ejiofor/) > [I am an aware citizen, so I want my characters to be aware, too. They should be aware of what's happening in the society…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pankaj-tripathi/i-am-an-aware-citizen-so-i-want-my-characters-to-be-aware-too-they/) [Pankaj Tripathi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pankaj-tripathi/) > [Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-kenneth-galbraith/technology-means-the-systematic-application-of-scientific-or-other/) [John Kenneth Galbraith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-kenneth-galbraith/) > [Love is a vision,love carry our vision,and love by-step our vision. we carry our love to our by-step. once love is vision love is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/love-is-a-vision-love-carry-our-vision-and-love-by-step-our-vision-we/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Man is an ignoramus athirst for knowledge.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-wagner/man-is-an-ignoramus-athirst-for-knowledge/) [Charles Wagner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-wagner/) [Browse all 13,227 Knowledge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned, it's too late to live.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Carolyn Wells" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time-we-ve-learned-it-s-too-late/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Knowledge" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time-we-ve-learned-it-s-too-late/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a0/carolyn-wells-10684_knowledge_we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time_2196794.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a0/carolyn-wells-10684_knowledge_we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time_2196794.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4a0/carolyn-wells-10684_knowledge_we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time_2196794.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We should live and learn; but by the time we've learned, it's too late to live.” — Carolyn Wells", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Carolyn Wells", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carolyn-wells/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "We should live and learn; but...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time-we-ve-learned-it-s-too-late/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carolyn-wells/we-should-live-and-learn-but-by-the-time-we-ve-learned-it-s-too-late/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```