Life is the only real counselor wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue.

The saying argues that ethical understanding is not primarily acquired through abstract instruction or secondhand advice, but through lived experience. “Life” is cast as the only counselor whose lessons truly take hold, because experience forces knowledge to be tested against consequences, emotion, and responsibility. The metaphor of “moral tissue” suggests character as something organic—grown and strengthened by what one endures—rather than a set of ideas one can simply adopt. In this view, wisdom becomes actionable only when it has been internalized through personal trial, making it part of one’s instincts and habits rather than merely one’s opinions.