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Wise sayings
Experience is the teacher of all things.
Julius Caesar100–44 BC · leader · Ancient RomeJulius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman whose military conquests and political power ultimately made him dictator of Rome.1 quote
Source not found yetCuriosityAncient

In plain words

Doing something yourself teaches you more than being told about it.

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Where these words come from

How sure this is
55% sureLots of sources credit Julius Caesar with this, and they agree with each other. The book or the speech it first came from hasn't turned up yet.
What turned up
Latin ancestor is genuine Caesar ('est rerum omnium magister usus', De Bello Civili II.8), but this English wording appears in no located translation — the standard McDevitte/Bohn (1859) reads 'experience is the best master in every thing on which the wit of man is employed'
Work
Commentarii de Bello Civili (Commentaries on the Civil War)
Occasion
c. 48 BCE · Roman military campaigns · war memoir/history
Sources checked
  • en.wikiquote.orgChecked using claude-sonnet-5, 21 August 2026Wikiquote Experience theme page, sourced to Commentarii de Bello Civili
  • en.wikisource.orgChecked using claude-fable-5, 21 August 2026De Bello Civili II.8, McDevitte/Bohn trans. (1859), Wikisource — this rendering reads 'experience is the best master in every thing', NOT our stored wording; Latin 'est rerum omnium magister usus' is genuine Caesar. Stored form unlocated this pass — maybe another translator or a smoothing.
  • en.wikisource.orgChecked using claude-fable-5, 21 August 2026McDevitte/Bohn 1859 translation of De Bello Civili II.8 — carries the passage, NOT our stored wording

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More on curiosity

Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.PlatoI don't study to know more, but to ignore less.Sor Juana Inés de la CruzThere are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.William ShakespeareWe live in a beautiful and wonderful world, and the more you know about it the wiser and the better you will be.Louisa May AlcottThese are times in which a genius would wish to live.Abigail AdamsPhilosophy is the microscope of the thought.Victor Hugo

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