"Les sages apprennent plus des fous que les fous des sages"
— Horace
Simplified Meaning:
Smart people can pick up useful lessons from the mistakes and actions of those who aren't very wise, but those who are not very wise don't often learn from the advice of smart people. Think about a good student who sees a classmate getting into trouble for not doing homework. The good student realizes it's important to do their homework to avoid getting into trouble. However, the classmate who didn't do the homework may not understand why they're in trouble or learn from it. This idea shows that by observing others’ errors, smart people become wiser. It also suggests that to be truly wise ourselves, we should pay close attention to how others fail or succeed. We can use other people’s experiences to avoid making the same mistakes and to find better ways of doing things in our own lives.
