sadder and/but wiser

sadder and/but wiser

Enlightened by an unfortunate experience; learning from one’s mistakes. The pairing of these two thoughts appears in the concluding stanza of Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” (1798): “He went like one that hath been stunned,/And is of sense forlorn:/A sadder and a wiser man,/He rose the morrow morn.”
See also: and, but, sad, wiser
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • say it ain't so
  • Say it ain't so, Joe
  • Say it ain't so, Joe!
  • go from zero to hero
  • stanza
  • albatross (a)round (one's) neck
  • albatross around one's neck
  • albatross round someone's neck
  • an albatross around your neck
  • cuff