New Delhi, May 5 -- Thomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian born in 1608. He studied at Cambridge and became one of the wittiest writers of 17th-century England. His books included The Holy State and the Profane State and The Worthies of England. Fuller died in 1661. But many of his short sayings still sound remarkably fresh today.

This is a genuine Thomas Fuller line. It is recorded in Gnomologia (1732).

In business terms, this quote is about recognising value too late. Fuller is pointing to a simple human habit. People often understand the true worth of something only after it becomes scarce or unavailable. Water is the literal image here. But the principle applies to much more. The "well" can mean trust, health, time, ta...