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Regret Quotes

Browse 4174 quotes about Regret.

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Regret Quotes

“Most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.”

PeopleLifeInspirationalDeathDiesCommonMistakeRegretLateCommon SenseToo LateMaking MistakesMade A MistakeMy MistakesGreat MistakesI Make MistakesNever RegretI Have Made MistakesI Made A MistakeLife MistakesOne MistakeDorian GreyPortrait Of Dorian GrayPeople Make MistakesI Never RegretMistakes Were MadeNo Common SenseRegret And Mistake
Author:Oscar Wilde
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“It"s good to keep wide-open ears and listen to what everybody else has to say, but when you come to make a decision, you have to weigh all of what you"ve heard on its own, and place it where it belongs, and come to a decision for yourself; you"ll never regret it. But if you form the habit of taking what someone else says about a thing without checking it out for yourself, you"ll find that other people will have you hating your friends and loving your enemies.”

PeopleIfsFormHateDecisionEnemyHeardRegretHabitEarsWideNever RegretLoving Your Enemies
Author:Malcolm X
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“People who feel any sort of regret where you are concerned will suppose you are angry, and they will see anger in what you do, even if you're just quietly going about a life of your own choosing. They will make you doubt yourself, which, depending on cases, can be a severe distraction and a waste of time. This is a thing I wish I had understood much earlier than I did.”

PeopleIfsFeelsWishCasesDoubtRegretWasteUnderstoodConcernedAngryWhere You AreDistractionWasting TimeSevere
Author:Marilynne Robinson
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“I hear there are people who actually enjoy moving. Sounds like a disease to me - they must be unstable. Though it does have it’s poetry, I’ll allow that. When an old dwelling starts looking desolate, a mixture of regret and anxiety comes over us and we feel like we are leaving a safe harbor for the rolling sea. As for the new place, it looks on us with alien eyes, it has nothing to say to us, it is cold.”

PeopleFeelsLooksDoeEyeMovingEnjoySoundSeaRegretColdSafeDiseaseAnxietyLeavingAliensRollingMixturesHarborsDwellingUnstableDesolateNew PlacesSafe Harbor
Author:Jan Neruda
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“He felt as though he were failing in practically every area of his life. Lately, happiness seemed as distant and unattainable to him as space travel. He hadn't always felt this way. There had been a long period of time during which he remembered being very happy. But things change. People change. Change was one of the inevitable laws of nature, exacting its toll on people's lives. Mistakes are made, regrets form, and all that was left were repercussions that made something as simple as rising from the bed seem almost laborious.”

PeopleWayLongMadeSeemsFormLawLeftFeltSimpleSpaceMistakeFailingRegretPeriodsBedAreasInevitableRememberedRisingVery HappyThings ChangeLaws Of NatureSpace TravelTollsRepercussionsUnattainableLong Periods Of TimeLife Mistakes
Author:Nicholas Sparks
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“For my omniscience paid I toll In infinite remorse of soul. All sin was of my sinning, all Atoning mine, and mine the gall Of all regret. Mine was the weight Of every brooded wrong, the hate That stood behind each envious thrust, Mine every greed, mine every lust. And all the while for every grief, Each suffering, I craved relief With individual desire, – Craved all in vain! And felt fierce fire About a thousand people crawl; Perished with each, — then mourned for all!”

PeopleSoulDesireSufferingHateIndividualFeltSinGriefBehindsFireMinesRegretThousandWeightPaidInfiniteGreedLustVainReliefFierceRemorseThrustEnviousTollsSinningOmniscience
Book:Renascence and Other Poems
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“I'll get angry in the same way with the coachman Ivan, argue in the same way, speak my mind inappropriately, there will be the same wall between my soul's holy of holies and other people, even my wife, I'll accuse her in the same way of my own fear and then regret it, I'll fail in the same way to understand with my reason why I pray, and yet I will pray--but my life now, my whole life, regardless of all that may happen to me, every minute of it, is not only not meaningless, as it was before, but has the unquestionable meaning of the good which it is in my power to put into it!”

PeopleWayMindMaySoulReasonWholeHappensSpeakMy OwnWifeFailingMinutesRegretWallPrayingHolyAngryMy WifeArguingWhole LifeMy SoulReason WhyMeaninglessI Pray
Author:Leo Tolstoy
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“However, I have never clogged myself with the praises of pastoral life, nor with nostalgia for an innocent past of perverted acts in pastures. No. One need never leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes—I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life. It is more important to affirm the least sincere; the clouds get enough attention as it is and even they continue to pass. Do they know what they’re missing? Uh huh.”

PeopleKnowsNeedsI CanImportantEnoughPastWishEnjoyAttentionRecordsMissingNew YorkRegretPraiseCloudsStoresNostalgiaInnocentGrassSincereBladesSubwayHandyPasturesBlades Of GrassRecord StoresGreenery
Book:The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara
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“We all have regrets, Urian. Nothing that lives is immune from that nasty emotion. (Acheron) So what? You want me to go kiss and make up? (Urian) Hardly. But I want you to set aside your own hurt and anger to see clearly for a minute. This isn’t about you and your father anymore than it’s about me and Nick hating each other over something we can’t change. This is about saving the lives of a million innocent people. People like Phoebe who don’t deserve to be hunted and killed. If I can stand at the side of my enemies for the greater good, so can you. (Acheron)”

PeopleIfsWantI CanLife IsHateFatherSidesHurtEmotionEnemyMillionsGreaterMinutesRegretKissingDeserveWhat You WantInnocentSavingWant MeI Want YouNastyImmuneCan't ChangeYou Want MeHuntedGreater Good
Author:Sherrilyn Kenyon
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“But then, life is a constant withering of possibilities. Some are stolen with the lives of people you love. Others are let go, with regret and reluctance and deep, deep sorrow. But there is compensation for lives unlived in the intoxicating joy of knowing that the life you have - right here, right now - if the one you have chosen. There is power in that, and hope.”

PeopleIfsLife IsJoyKnowingPossibilityRegretSorrowRight NowLetting GoConstantChosenStolenCompensationReluctanceWitheringDeep Sorrow
Author:Emily Maguire
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“"I don't know," I said. "What else did you do for your first eighteen years?" "Like I said," he said as I unlocked the car, "I'm not so sure that you should go by my example." "Why not?" "Because I have my regrets," he said. "Also, I'm a guy. And guys do different stuff." "Like ride bikes?" I said. "No," he replied. "Like have food fights. And break stuff. And set off firecrackers on people's front porches. And..." "Girls can't set off firecrackers on people's front porches?" "They can," he said... "But they're smart enough not to. That's the difference."”

PeopleKnowsShouldYearsFirstsSaidDifferentEnoughGuyGirlFightingStuffDifferencesBreakCarFrontsExampleRegretSmartWhy NotBikeEighteenPorchAlong For The RideFront PorchesFirecracker
Author:Sarah Dessen
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“Look, it's easy to outsmart a werewolf or a vampire," Jace said. "They're no smarter than anyone else. But faeries live for hundreds of years and they're as cunning as snakes. They can't lie, but they love to engage in creative truth-telling. They'll find out whatever it is you want most in the world and give it to you—with a sting in the tail of the gift that will make you regret you ever wanted it in the first place." He sighed. "They're not really about helping people. More about harm disguised as help.”

PeopleWorldWantGivingYearsFirstsLooksSaidHelpingWantedLyingEasyCreativeRegretHarmVampireTelling The TruthSmarterTailsJaceSnakesCunningHelping PeopleWerewolfFaerie
Book:Cassandra Clare: The Mortal Instruments Series (5 books): City of Bones; City of Ashes; City of Glass; City of Fallen Angels, City of Lost Souls
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“Everyone wanted to believe that endless love was possible. She'd believed in it once too, back when she was eighteen. But she knew that love was messy, just like life. It took turns that people couldn't foresee or even understand, leaving a long trail of regret in its wake. And almost always, those regrets led to the kinds of what if questions that could never be answered.”

PeopleIfsBelieveKindLongWantedTurnsRegretLeavingEndlessWhat IfTrailsMessyEighteenBack WhenBest Of MeEndless Love
Author:Nicholas Sparks
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“We all know of people who thought they could to it (whatever “it” is) tomorrow. We have all procrastinated on such a way, and often to our personal regret. It happens time and again, putting off things that we convince ourselves might be better, more meaningful, more appropriate for another time. So often that better time either never comes or really isn’t better or more appropriate after all. And then, sadly, the window of opportunity -to do something great- closes.”

PeopleKnowsWayMightHappensOpportunityRegretTomorrowWindowMeaningfulAppropriateConvinceAnother TimeWindow Of Opportunity
Book:Through My Eyes
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“It’s not just other people we need to forgive. We also need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn’t do. All the things we should have done. You can’t get stuck on the regrets of what should have happened. I always wished I had done more with my work; I wished I had written more books. I used to beat myself up over it. Now I see that never did any good. Make peace. You need to make peace with yourself and everyone around you.”

PeopleNeedsShouldBookDoneUsedWrittenHappenedRegretBeatsShould HaveForgivingStuckOver ItMaking Peace
Author:Mitch Albom
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“I looked at it [revolver] as if it reminded me of a crime I had committed with an irrepressible smile such as rises sometimes to people’s lips in the face of great catastrophes which are beyond their grasp, the smile that comes at times on certain women’s faces while they are saying they regret the harm they have done. It is the smile of nature quietly and proudly asserting its natural right to kill.”

PeopleIfsSometimesDoneFacesCertainNaturalCrimeRegretLipsCommittedHarmCatastropheRevolverIrrepressible
Author:Anais Nin
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“I had seen the light, come to believe that a wedding should be about a feeling between two people, not a show for the masses...It was a magical, romantic evening, and although I occasionally wish I had worn a slightly fancier dress, and that Nick and I had danced on our wedding night, I have no real regrets about the way we chose to do things.”

PeopleWayShouldBelieveTwoRealShowsFeelingsLightNightWishRegretMassDressesEveningWornOur WeddingWedding Night
Author:Emily Giffin
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“If anyone were to find out—” I began. Patch kissed me, hard, but with an amused glint in his eye. “If I get caught, it’ll mean the end of kissing you. Do you really think I’d risk that?” His face grew serious. “I know I can’t feel your touch, but I feel your love, Nora. Inside me. It means everything to me. I wish I could feel you the same way you feel me, but I have your love. Nothing will ever outweigh that. Some people go their entire lives never feeling the emotions you’ve given me. There is no regret in that.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsWayFeelsMeanI CanEndsHardFeelingsEyeFacesGivenWishEmotionRiskSeriousRegretGrewKissingCaughtHis EyesPatchesNo RegretsAmusedKissing You
Book:The Complete Hush, Hush Saga: includes Hush, Hush; Crescendo; Silence and Finale
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“For me, the times I always regret are missed opportunities to say farewell to good people, to wish them long life and say to them in all sincerity, "You build and do not destroy; you sow goodwill and reap it; smiles bloom in the wake of your passing, and I will keep your kindness in trust and share it as occasion arises, so that your life will be a quenching draught of calm in a land of drought and stress." Too often I never get to say that when it should be said. Instead, I leave them with the equivalent of a "Later, dude!" only to discover there would be no later for us.”

PeopleShouldLongSaidWould BeOpportunityWishKindnessShareLandRegretStressCalmArisePassingPassingsOccasionsSincerityGood PeopleFarewellLong LifeReapGoodwillDroughtMissed OpportunityDraught
Book:The Iron Druid Chronicles 6-Book Bundle: Hounded, Hexed, Hammered, Tricked, Trapped, Hunted
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“I contemplate the notion that maybe regrets are a process of accumulation of time, as unavoidable as a closet full of clothes and more bags of them in the attic. Is accumulated baggage what makes people get old? If so, they need to clean out their fecking attics, send the stuff to consignment shops and remember how to walk around naked like kids, little bellies sticking out, always ready for a good laugh.”

PeopleIfsNeedsLittlesKidsRememberStuffProcessWalksLaughingReadyRegretClothesCleanNotionNakedShopsBagsContemplatingClosetsBellyAccumulationBaggageAtticsGood LaughSticking Out
Book:Iced: Fever Series
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“I do not have regrets. I believe I helped preserve the peace for this country. Why should I regret that? What I accomplished was approved by Congress -- which represents our people. All of you live in safety from domestic enemies because of security from the police. Likewise, you live in safety from foreign enemies because our military keeps them from attacking us.”

PeopleShouldBelieveCountryI BelieveEnemySecurityMilitaryRegretPoliceSafetyCongressPreservesAccomplishedShould IAttackingI RegretApprovedAttacking Us
Author:Hyman Rickover
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“I've learned that you have to stay true to yourself from all the amazing people I've had the opportunity to work with thus far. You have to stay true to yourself and don't be afraid even though people may say what you're doing isn't cool or isn't right. I promise you, you will not regret it if you stay true to who you are and what you love to do because there is no other reason that I am up here today receiving this award.”

PeopleIfsMayReasonTodayOpportunityRegretPromiseWho You AreI've LearnedAwardsReceivingWhat You LoveI PromiseTrue To YourselfStay TrueAmazing PeopleStay True To Yourself
Author:Emma Stone
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“You make it all sound so simple. Run your guts out...collapse at the finish, throw up, that makes a good runner. Sounds like you regret not being more like Prefontaine....Everyone gripes to me that American marathoners are 'lazy-no-good-for-nothings'. My point is, many people have criticisms, but few have valid answers. I'd like to know what happened to the guys that kicked my ass in high school.”

PeopleKnowsRunningSchoolGuySoundSimpleAnswersHappenedRegretLike YouHigh SchoolCriticismAssGutsLazyCollapseRunners
Author:Keith Brantly
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