I don't think you can come into your wisdom until you have made

The words of Elizabeth Gilbert shine with the raw fire of experience: “I don’t think you can come into your wisdom until you have made mistakes on your own skin and felt them in the reality of your own life.” In this truth, she declares that wisdom cannot be inherited like coin, nor taught like arithmetic. It must be carved into the flesh of the soul by the blows of error, pain, and redemption. Only when one has stumbled, bled, and risen again does the light of true wisdom dawn.

For the mistakes of others can warn us, but they cannot shape us. A child may be told the fire burns, but until his own skin feels the heat, the lesson remains half-real. So it is with life: the counsels of elders, the books of philosophers, the stories of saints—all are precious, yet none can replace the hammer and anvil of personal trial. Gilbert’s words remind us that wisdom is not secondhand—it is won, and it costs the one who seeks it.

History gives us luminous witnesses. Consider Augustine of Hippo, who wandered through passions and false philosophies before he found the truth of faith. His mistakes, lived and suffered in the marrow of his life, became the very soil from which his writings on grace and love grew, writings that continue to guide souls for centuries. Without his errors, his wisdom would have been thinner, less rooted in the reality of human struggle.

Even great leaders have known this truth. Abraham Lincoln’s early years in politics were marked by defeats and humiliations, yet each failure deepened his resilience and sharpened his vision. By the time he bore the weight of a nation torn by civil war, his wisdom was no mere theory—it was lived, tested, and purchased through his own scars. The man who had once failed repeatedly could now endure what might have crushed a weaker spirit.

Therefore, let this teaching endure: embrace your mistakes, for they are not only wounds but teachers. Do not flee from the reality of your own errors, for in them lies the refining fire of wisdom. As Gilbert declares, only by carrying our own burdens, by feeling the pain of our choices upon our own skin, can we grow into the strength and clarity that life demands. Thus the path of error, though bitter, becomes the very road to greatness.