What does this quote mean?

“Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes.”

The wit turns “experience” into a retrospective label for errors, suggesting that mistakes become useful only when understood.

Source note: The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891 edition, Chapter 4; third-person narration focalized through Lord Henry reflects that experience is the name people give to their mistakes.

“The present state of things is the consequence of the former.”

Understanding present conditions requires tracing the earlier choices and causes that produced them rather than treating the present as isolated.

Source note: Rasselas, Chapter XXX; Imlac argues that studying history helps people understand the sources of present benefits and harms.

“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness.”

Change by itself is not improvement; progress requires preserving useful lessons and achievements while moving beyond what no longer works.

Source note: The Life of Reason, Reason in Common Sense; the sentence follows Santayana’s discussion of memory and historical learning.

“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”

Good relationships can improve judgment and character through challenge, conversation, and mutual influence.

Source note: Proverbs 15:1 in the King James Version; the proverb contrasts a soft answer with speech that intensifies wrath.

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

Not every book deserves the same kind of attention; readers should match effort and depth to the value and purpose of the work.

Source note: Essay “Of Studies”; Bacon distinguishes different depths and purposes of reading.

“The readiness is all.”

The emphasis is not on controlling every outcome but on meeting what comes with preparedness and acceptance.

Source note: Act 5, Scene 2.