“Mistakes: It could be that the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others”

“Mistakes: It could be that the purpose of your life is to serve as a warning to others” is a saying that has been printed on a demotivational poster. “It’s possible that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others” was cited in print in 1981.
 
“A poster titled ‘Mistakes’ features a sinking ship and the caption, ‘It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others” was cited in print in January 1999. 
 
       
20 May 1981, Seattle (WA) Times, “Swinging stars” by Walt Evans, pg. B2, col. 1:
Graham and Coni Fitch send a postcard from California that said: “It’s possible that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.” Hmmm.
   
Google Groups: alt.music.nin
Robert Payes  
1/31/95
(...)
It may be that your purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.
 
Google News Archive
5 March 1997, Catoosa County News (Ringgold, GA)<, "Some things just can't be explained by logical thinking" by Richard L. Ball, pg. 4A, col. 5:

6. It may be that your purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.
 
20 July 1997, European Stars and Stripes, “The Light Side,” pg. 18, col. 3:
It may be that your sole purpose in life is to serve as a warning to others.
 
5 January 1999, Los Angeles (CA) Times, S0uthern California Living, pg. 2:
A poster titled “Mistakes” features a sinking ship and the caption, “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”
 
Google Books
A Thousand Paths to Enlightenment
By David Baird
Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks
2000
Pg. 23:
It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.
 
Policymic
August 5, 2013
4 Pieces Of Career Advice You Should Never Listen to
By Karen Mishra in Business
We are asked to give career advice all the time. It’s hard to give advice because you don’t want to give bad advice. We know this because we’ve been given bad advice many times in our life. We prefer to share our good and bad experiences and let people learn from them and make their own choices. As the wise poster above says, “it could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.”