It's no use crying over spilt milk. (Strauss, 1994 p. 631)
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Don't waste time feeling sorry for something that's already happened
Literally: crying over spilled milk
Examples
She forgot to set her alarm, but it's no use crying over spilt milk now.
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 no use crying over spilt milk. (Strauss, 1994 p. 631)” mean?
Don't waste time feeling sorry for something that's already happened Literally: crying over spilled milk
Is “It's no use crying over spilt milk. (Strauss, 1994 p. 631)” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.