It's good to learn from your mistakes. It's better to learn from other people's mistakes.
There's a version of wisdom that hurts—the kind you pay for with your own bruises, your own failed relationships, your own money down the drain. And yes, that teaches you something real. But Buffett is pointing at something sharper: the person who only learns from their own mistakes is running a slow, expensive education.
Think about how we actually live. Your friend goes through a messy divorce and suddenly you see patterns you missed in your own relationship. Someone you know gets burned by a business idea and you recognize the exact same pitch dressed up differently. A family member's health scare makes you rearrange your priorities before you hit the same wall. You're borrowing their hard-won clarity without paying their price.
The tricky part is that learning from others requires something we're often too proud to do: paying attention to cautionary tales instead of dismissing them as someone else's bad luck or stupidity. It means staying curious about people's failures instead of just enjoying them from a distance. The people who actually get ahead aren't usually the ones reinventing every mistake themselves. They're the ones who watched, listened, and were willing to adjust course based on what they saw.
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Sign inWarren Buffett is an American investor, business tycoon, and philanthropist, widely considered one of the most successful investors in the world. He is the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and is known for his value investing approach and long-term perspective in building wealth.