Experience is the best teacher...
I heard it this way first, from Daniel: “Experience is the best teacher.” Why? “You get the test first, and the lesson later.”
But the quotation is attributed to Vernon Law, a baseball player. Vern Law is arguably the baseball player with the second greatest impact on modern philosophy, the first being Yogi Berra.
Law’s version:
Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.”
But no one compares to Yogi, even though he says:
“I really didn’t say everything I said.”
Here are some classics:
“90 percent of baseball is mental; the other half is physical.”
On why he no longer went to Rigazzi’s, a St. Louis restaurant: “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
“It ain’t over till it’s over.” In July 1973, Berra’s Mets trailed the Chicago Cubs by 9½ games in the National League East. The Mets rallied to clinch the division title in their second-to-last game of the regular season, and eventually reach the World Series.
When giving directions to Joe Garagiola to his New Jersey home, which was accessible by two routes: “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”
At Yogi Berra Day at Sportsman Park in St. Louis: “Thank you for making this day necessary.”
“It’s déjà vu all over again.” Berra explained that this quote originated when he witnessed Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris repeatedly hitting back-to-back home runs in the Yankees’ seasons in the early 1960s.“You can observe a lot by watching.
“Always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise they won’t go to yours.”
“A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore”
“If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.”