Quotes about Regret

Regret comes in two flavors: actions taken and opportunities missed.

And in the long run, research shows that the mistakes we regret are not errors of commission, but errors of omission. If we could do things over, most of us would censor ourselves less and express our ideas more.

Regrets are idle; yet history is one long regret. Everything might have turned out so differently!

Today, I will try to remember to regret the past. I will think of how many mistakes I have made throughout my life. I will say to myself, "If only I could go back in time and make different choices, so that my life could be the way it should have been." Then I will remind myself that I cannot.

As Nietzsche points out, regret can do nothing to change what has already happened. We just wallow in remorse about something over which we no longer have any control. But if regret happened before a decision instead of after, the experience of regret might get us to change a choice likely to result in a bad outcome.

Regret is a disposition for returning to God,

Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets.

I...regret...what I did. It was wrong. Very wrong. But regret is meaningless.

You have to choose your future regrets.

He'd undone all he could. You can be sorry, and you can be forgiven, but you can't call back the futures that your bad decisions lost. He didn't need no philosopher to tell him that.

What if I forgave myself? What if I forgave myself even though I’d done some things I shouldn’t have? What if I was sorry, but if I could go back in time I wouldn’t do anything different from what I’d done? What if yes was the right answer instead of no? What if all those things I shouldn’t have done were what got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

We regret not having the courage to make such and such decision; we regret much more having made one — any one. Better no action than the consequences of an action.

Regret for things we have done can be tempered by time, it is regret for things we have not done that is inconsolable.

Take great care to avoid mistakes when the decision is hard to reverse.

But! If you make a mistake that is hard to reverse, there is no sense beating yourself up about it. Your responsibility is to make the best next choice given your current position. You must always make the most of the situation you are in.

Next play mentality.