REGRET QUOTES IV
quotations about regret
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
Either/Or: A Fragment of Life
So it is with all life. A tedium that includes the expectation of nothing but more tedium; a regret, right now, for the regret I'll have tomorrow for having felt regret today.
FERNANDO PESSOA
The Book of Disquiet
There is not unmitigated ill in the sharpest of this world's sorrows;
I touch not the sore of thy guilt; but of human griefs I counsel thee,
Cast off the weakness of regret, and gird thee to redeem thy loss:
Thou has gained, in the furnace of affliction, self-knowledge, patience and humility,
And these be as precious ore, that waiteth the skill of the coiner:
Despise not the blessings of adversity, nor the gain thou hast earned so hardly,
And now thou hast drained the bitter, take heed that thou lose not the sweet.
MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER
Proverbial Philosophy
I have made it a rule of my 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
"Je Ne Parle Pas Français", The Best Short Stories of Katherine Mansfield
Temporary feelings of regret are a normal part of the mourning process. This helps us retrieve our lost dreams. If we hold on to regret, we risk trapping ourselves in a prison of unrealized dreams from which it is difficult to escape.
BARBARA DE ANGELIS
How Did I Get Here?
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.
WILLIAM O'ROURKE
Idle Hands
I don't think I could love you so much if you had nothing to complain of and nothing to regret. I don't like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and of little value. Life hasn't revealed its beauty to them.
BORIS PASTERNAK
Doctor Zhivago
Whoever sows good shall harvest happiness, and whoever sows evil shall harvest regret.
IMAM ABU MUHAMMAD
attributed, The Life of Imam Hasan Al-'Askari
You won't regret the men you never killed, but you will regret the women you passed up.
BERNARD CORNWELL
The Winter King