Afterwit

After wits are dearely bought, / Let thy fore-wit guide thy thought.

1692, Roger L’Estrange (translator), Fables of Æsop, London: R. Sare et al., Fable 162, “A Nightingale and a Bat,” There’s No Recalling of what’s Gone and Past; so that After-Wit comes too Late when the Mischief is Done.

Trust me, dear Yorick, this unwary pleasantry of thine will sooner or later bring thee into scrapes and difficulties, which no after-wit can extricate thee out of.

There is always a danger of afterwit in estimating the early achievements of men who have achieved fame […].