“The horror of that moment,” the King went on, “I shall never, never forget!” “You will, though,” the Queen said, “if you don’t make a memorandum of it.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) (1832–98) British Author, Mathematician, Clergyman, Logician
Remorse not only turns God against us, but turns us against ourselves, and makes the soul like the scorpion in the fire, which stings itself to death.
—R. David Thomas (1932–2002) American Entrepreneur, Philanthropist
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
Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
—Charles Dickens (1812–70) English Novelist
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
The only thing I regret about my past is the length of it. If I had to live my life again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner.
—Tallulah Bankhead (1902–68) American Actress
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
Not sharp revenge, nor hell itself can find a fiercer torment than a guilty mind.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
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
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
One man’s remorse is another man’s reminiscence.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
Remorse is the pain of sin.
—Theodore Parker (1810–60) American Unitarian Minister, Abolitionist
I have many regrets, and I’m sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret … if you have any sense; and, if you don’t regret them, maybe you’re stupid.
—Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003) American Actor, TV Personality
I must place on record my regret that the human race ever learned to fly.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
For the majority of us, the past is a regret, the future an experiment.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
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, 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
Your past is always going to be the way it was. Stop trying to change it.
—Unknown
I am afraid to think what I have done; lock on it again I dare not.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
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
This is another day! Are its eyes blurred With maudlin grief for any wasted past? A thousand thousand failures shall not daunt! Let dust clasp dust, death, death; I am alive.
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author
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
A mistake is not a failure, but evidence that someone tried to do something.
—Unknown
Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently!
—Charles Dudley Warner (1829–1900) American Essayist, Novelist
There is no future pang can deal that justice on the self-condemned, he deals on his own soul.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Remorse: beholding heaven and feeling hell.
—George Moore (1852–1933) Irish Writer
It is not just when a villainous act has been committed that it torments us; it is when we think of it afterward, for the remembrance of it lasts forever.
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) Swiss-born French Philosopher
There is no greater sorrow than to recall a happy time in the midst of wretchedness.
—Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) Italian Poet, Philosopher
Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.
—Eleanor Hibbert (1906–93) British Novelist
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
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