Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.
—Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand-born British Author
Suspense is worst than disappointment.
—Robert Burns (1759–96) Scottish Poet, Songwriter
Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy—the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.
—Robert Kiyosaki (b.1947) American Businessperson, Author, Motivational Speaker
Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises; and oft it hits
Where hope is coldest, and despair most fits.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Be calm and strong and patient. Meet failure and disappointment with courage. Rise superior to the trials of life, and never give in to hopelessness or despair. In danger, in adversity, cling to your principles and ideals. Aequanimitas!
—William Osler (1849–1919) Canadian Physician
Opportunity is a favorable occasion for grasping a disappointment.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The disappointment of manhood succeeds the delusion of youth.
—Benjamin Disraeli (1804–81) British Head of State
What people expect to happen is always different from what actually happens. From this comes great disappointment; this is the way the world works.
—Buddhist Teaching
There will be little rubs and disappointments everywhere, and we are all apt to expect too much; but then, if one scheme of happiness fails, human nature turns to another; if the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better: we find comfort somewhere.
—Jane Austen (1775–1817) English Novelist
For the majority of us, the past is a regret, the future an experiment.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Regret for time wasted can become a power for good in the time that remains. And the time that remains is time enough, if we will only stop the waste and the idle, useless regretting.
—Arthur Brisbane (1864–1936) American Newspaper Editor, Investor
Disappointments are to the soul what a thunder-storm is to the air.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
—Helen Keller (1880–1968) American Author
The chemist who can extract from his heart’s elements, compassion, respect, longing, patience, regret, surprise, and forgiveness and compound them into one can create that atom which is called love.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
The best enjoyment is half disappointment to what we intend or would have in this world.
—Gamaliel Bailey (1807–59) American Journalist
Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.
—Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963) Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
Get correct views of life, and learn to see the world in its true light. It will enable you to live pleasantly, to do good, and, when summoned away, to leave without regret.
—Robert E. Lee (1807–70) Confederate General during American Civil War
I believe life is constantly testing us for our level of commitment, and life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve. This level of resolve can move mountains, but it must be constant and consistent. As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who live their dreams from those who live in regret.
—Tony Robbins (b.1960) American Self-Help Author, Entrepreneur
Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as many images to the mind, and as many topics to the tongue.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
We mount to heaven mostly on the ruins of our cherished schemes, finding our failures were successes.
—Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888) American Teacher, Writer, Philosopher
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
Every noble work is bound to face problems and obstacles. It is important to check your goal and motivation thoroughly. One should be very truthful, honest, and reasonable. One’s actions should be good for others, and for oneself as well. Once a positive goal is chosen, you should decide to pursue it all the way to the end. Even if it is not realized, at least there will be no regret.
—The 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) Tibetan Buddhist Religious Leader, Civil Rights Leader, Philosopher, Author
Once my heart was captured, reason was shown the door, deliberately and with a sort of frantic joy. I accepted everything, I believed everything, without struggle, without suffering, without regret, without false shame. How can one blush for what one adores?
—George Sand (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
Regret is an odd emotion because it comes only upon reflection. Regret lacks immediacy, and so its power seldom influences events when it could do some good.
—Edward William O’Rourke (1917–99) American Roman Catholic Bishop
But the bravest man amongst us is afraid of himself. The mutilation of the savage has its tragic survival in the self-denial that mars our lives. We are punished for our refusals. Every impulse that we strive to strangle broods in the mind and poisons us. The body sins once, and has done with its sin, for action is a mode of purification. Nothing remains then but the recollection of a pleasure, or the luxury of a regret. The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself, with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful. It has been said that the great events of the world take place in the brain. It is in the brain, and the brain only, that the great sins of the world take place also.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The sudden disappointment of a hope leaves a scar which the ultimate fulfilment of that hope never entirely removes.
—Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) English Novelist, Poet
It is sometimes of God’s mercy that men in the eager pursuit of worldly aggrandizement are baffled; for they are very like a train going down an inclined plane—putting on the brake is not pleasant, but it keeps the car on the track and from ruin.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Life often seems like a long shipwreck of which the debris are friendship, glory, and love.—The shores of existence are strewn with them.
—Anne Louise Germaine de Stael (1766–1817) French Woman of Letters
I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations—one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it—you will regret both.
—Soren Kierkegaard (1813–55) Danish Philosopher, Theologian
Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true.
—Robert Brault
Take every gain without showing remorse about missed profits, because an eel may escape sooner than you think.
—Lope de Vega (1562–1635) Spanish Playwright, Poet
Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.
—Kurt Vonnegut (1922–2007) American Novelist, Short Story Writer
It is generally known, that he who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation, or has any effect other than that of producing a moral sentence or peevish exclamation.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
One regret dear world, that I am determined not to have when I am lying on my deathbed is that I did not kiss you enough.
—Hafez (1325–89) Persian Poet, Mystic
We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
—Jim Rohn (1930–2009) American Entrepreneur, Author, Motivational Speaker
One’s best success comes after their greatest disappointments.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.
—George Sand (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
There is nothing to regret—either for those who go or for those who are left behind.
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) American First Lady, Diplomat, Humanitarian
How disappointment tracks the steps of hope.
—Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–38) English Poet, Novelist
You’ll seldom experience regret for anything that you’ve done. It is what you haven’t done that will torment you. The message, therefore, is clear. Do it! Develop an appreciation for the present moment. Seize every second of your life and savor it. Value your present moments. Using them up in any self-defeating ways means you’ve lost them forever.
—Wayne Dyer (1940–2015) American Self-Help Author
There is many a thing which the world calls disappointment, but there is no such a word in the dictionary of faith. What to others are disappointments are to believers intimations of the way of God.
—John Newton (1725–1807) English Clergyman, Writer
Sometimes we lose friends for whose loss our regret is greater than our grief, and others for whom our grief is greater than our regret.
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613–80) French Writer
To regret one’s own experiences is to arrest one’s own development. To deny one’s own experiences is to put a lie into the lips of one’s life. It is no less than a denial of the soul.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
The pleasure of expecting enjoyment is often greater than that of obtaining it, and the completion of almost every wish is found a disappointment
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Fools live to regret their words, wise men to regret their silence.
—Unknown
Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge. A warrior cannot complain or regret anything. His life is an endless challenge, and challenges cannot possibly be good or bad. Challenges are simply challenges.
—Carlos Castaneda (1925–98) Peruvian-born American Anthropologist, Author
Speak when you are angry—and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.
—Laurence J. Peter (1919–90) Canadian-born American Educator, Author