Bitter experience has taught ...

Bitter experience has taught us how fundamental our values are and how great the mission they represent.
Bitter experience has taught us how fundamental our values are and how great the mission they represent.
 Jan Peter Balkenende

More phrases

If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.
What a distressing contrast there is between the radiant intelligence of the child and the feeble mentality of the average adult.
We are masters of the unsaid words, but slaves of those we let slip out.
I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.
A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.

Quotes from the same author

The generation which lived through the Second World War is disappearing. Post-war generations see Europe's great achievements - liberty, peace and prosperity - as a given.
 Jan Peter Balkenende