Regret quotes

Regret

2.4K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

2.4K quotes

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Browse quotes that often appear alongside regret — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

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Regret quotes (page 26 of 122)

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Charles Dickens Novelist
Regret

"Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed," cried the phantom, "not to know, that ages of incessant labour, by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused!"

Mean Christian Regret
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Cheryl Strayed Author, Memoirist
Regret

"One Christmas at the very beginning of your twenties when your mother gives you a warm coat that she saved for months to buy, don’t look at her skeptically after she tells you she thought the coat was perfect for you. Don’t hold it up and say it’s longer than you like your coats to be and too puffy and possibly even too warm. Your mother will be dead by spring. That coat will be the last gift she gave you. You will regret the small thing you didn’t say for the rest of your life. Say thank you."

Mother Spring Regret
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Cheryl Strayed Author, Memoirist
Regret

"It seemed to me the way it must feel to people who cut themselves on purpose. Not pretty, but clean. Not good, but void of regret. I was trying to heal. Trying to get the bad out of my system so I could be good again. To cure me of myself."

Inspirational Regret Life Changing
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Cheryl Strayed Author, Memoirist
Regret

"She tried to think of what to say to make it all better again, or at least the way it was before she'd made her confession, though she didn't regret having confessed. Perhaps that was what had been wrong with her all along. Now that the lie wasn't between them anymore, maybe she could love him again."

Thinking Lying Regret
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Clint Eastwood Actor, Director, Producer
Regret

"Everybody has certain things they wish they hadn't done in life. They wish they hadn't kicked their dog when they were ten or something. There are many things you can go back and have regrets about. I don't like doing that. But by the same token I do agree that when you get to a certain stage in life, you change. And you should change."

Wish Dog Regret
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Clint Eastwood Actor, Director, Producer
Regret

"My father died very suddenly at sixty-three. Just dropped dead. For a long time afterward, I'd ask myself, Why didn't I ask him to play golf more? Why didn't I spend more time with him? But when you're off trying to get the brass ring, you forget and overlook those little things. It gives you a certain amount of regret later on, but there's nothing you can do about it. So you just forge on."

Father Regret Golf
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Conan O'Brien Television Host, Comedian
Regret

"Every comedian dreams of hosting 'The Tonight Show' and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second."

Dream Regret Seven Months
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Confucius Philosopher
Regret

"The superior man accords with the course of the Mean. Though he may be all unknown, unregarded by the world, he feels no regret - It is only the sage who is able for this."

Men Mean Regret
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Clint Eastwood Actor, Director, Producer
Regret

"When I look back on my life, I don't have regrets about what I didn't do. If I'd become a musician, it could have ruined my life."

Looks Regret Musician
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Charlotte Bronte Novelist, Poet
Regret

"It is strange,' pursued he, 'that while I love Rosomond Oliver so wildly-with all the intensity, indeed, of a first passion, the object of which is exquisitely beautiful, graceful, and fascinating--I experience at the same time a calm, unwarped consciousness, that she would not make me a good wife; that she is not the partner suited to me; that I should discover this within a year after marriage; and that to twelve months' rapture would succeed a lifetime of regret. This I know."

Beautiful Passion Regret
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Charles Yu Author
Regret

"Within a science fictional space, memory and regret are, when taken together, the set of necessary and sufficient elements required to produce a time machine."

Memories Taken Regret
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Bob Dylan Singer-songwriter
Regret

"I find C major to be the key of strength, but also the key of regret. E major is the key of confidence. A-flat major is the key of renunciation."

Keys Regret Flats
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Bode Miller Alpine Ski Racer
Regret

"The only mental games in ski racing is the mental game against yourself. Is the whole goal of life preserving your life as long as you can? No. The goal is to enjoy your life, challenge yourself, to sometimes make stupid decisions-which are sometimes fun and sometimes idiotic and sometimes just a big fat mistake you regret."

Fun Mistake Regret
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Alastair Campbell Political Consultant, Author
Regret

"I do think it's strange that I get associated with Iraq more than the people who were Foreign Secretary or Defence Secretary. It's because of my closeness to Tony [Blair], which I don't regret at all. I think that was a privilege."

Thinking Regret Iraq
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Alexandre Dumas Novelist, Playwright
Regret

"I love the life you've always made so sweet for me and I'd regret it if I had to die.' 'Do you mean to say that if I left you---' 'I'd die, yes.' 'Then you love me?"

Mean Sweet Regret
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