J. R. R. Tolkien captures this idea well: “I wish I had known all this before,” said Pippen. “I had no notion of what I was doing.” “O yes, you had,” said Gandalf. “You knew you were behaving wrongly and foolishly; and you told yourself so, though you did not listen. . . . But if I had spoken sooner, it would not have lessened your desire, or made it easier to resist. On the contrary! No, the burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart.”
