reckless youth makes rueful age
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Youthful mistakes lead to regret in old age
Literally: youth without thinking leads to age with regret
Examples
His wild spending in his 20s left him struggling in his 50s, a classic case of reckless youth makes rueful age
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 2026-08-01; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “reckless youth makes rueful age” mean?
Youthful mistakes lead to regret in old age Literally: youth without thinking leads to age with regret
Is “reckless youth makes rueful age” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.