&quot;Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.&quot;<p>I can learn from my mistakes and improve progressively.<p>If I rely on another instead, I cannot, and I cannot (necessarily and confidently) see to it that they learn from their mistakes and improve.<p>By relying on another (at least an unreliable \ uncommunicative \ uncooperative one), I cannot improve my chances of them not making those same mistakes again, taking me down with them.