hindsight is 20/20

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

the observation that it is easy to understand and evaluate past events clearly and to see what should have been done, once the outcome is already known; the reference to 20/20 vision, the standard for perfect eyesight, implies that looking backwards provides perfect clarity that was unavailable when looking forward into an uncertain future; the phrase cautions against unfairly criticising past decisions using knowledge that was not available at the time they were made