FUN COMPARISONS AND DESCRIPTIVES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE...

Ran across this in a Jack Reacher novel. There are many variations on this theme, but they're seldom seen in a published manuscript. The Reacher novels have an almost cult-like following. Lee Child has written many of them (25 +) and recently has started co-writing with Andrew Child. Andrew, interestingly enough, is Lee Child's younger brother. Born Andrew Grant, he writes under the pseudonym "Andrew Child".

So the "saying" involved relates directly to "learn from your mistakes" or "experience is the best teacher" ..... In this case, the learning point involves Reacher moving into a sequence of events that appear to be a trap.

This is how it's written....

"It's a trap. It's obvious. How can it not be?"

"...yes, it's almost certainly a trap." "But sometimes the only way to know if the stove is hot, is to touch it."