it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Experiencing loss is better than never having the experience at all
Examples
She was heartbroken, but knew it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed on English Wikiquote “English proverbs” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31). Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” mean?
Experiencing loss is better than never having the experience at all
Is “it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.