I am only human, although I regret it.

“Now sometimes I just feel guilty about the other side of the coin, that we’ve created this life, not only a big responsibility, but it also can be very negative,” she added.

Human beings are ashamed to have been born rather than made. They are ashamed of the fact that, unlike flawless and wholly calculated products, they owe their existence to the blind, incalculable and decidedly archaic process of procreation and birth.

Every war, every crime against humanity among the damned of the Earth is supposed to be somewhat our fault and ought to lead us to confess our guilt, to pay endlessly for being a member of the bloc of wealthy nations.

My guilt is that I am still here...I should have died. That is my guilt.

Being guilty tends to engender feelings of guilt.

I cannot express myself when I get to thinking about these things—these terrible crimes that man is inflicting year after year on millions of his poor, helpless brothers. I become indignant and desperate. I am ashamed of the race of beings to which I belong. It is so cruel and bigoted, so hypocritical, so soul-less and insane. I'd rather be an insect—a bee or a butterfly—and float in dim dreams among the wild flowers of summer than be a man and feel the wrongs and sufferings of this wretched world.

From any point of view, I had rather be what I am, a member of the Negro race, than be able to claim membership with the most favoured of any other race. I have always been made sad when I have heard members of any race claiming rights and privileges, or certain badges of distinction, on the ground simply that they were members of this or that race, regardless of their own individual worth or attainments. I have been made to feel sad for such persons because I am conscious of the fact that mere connection with what is known as a superior race will not permanently carry an individual forward unless he has individual worth, and mere connection with what is regarded as an inferior race will not finally hold an individual back if he possesses intrinsic, individual merit. Every persecuted individual and race should get much consolation out of the great human law, which is universal and eternal, that merit, no matter under what skin found, is, in the long run, recognized and rewarded. This I have said here, not to call attention to myself as an individual, but to the race to which I am proud to belong.

I feel shame, not for the wrong things I have done, but for the right things that I have failed to do.

I am ashamed of belonging to the species Homo Sapiens...You & I may be thankful to have lived in happier times – you more than I, because you have no children.

I’m gonna feel guilty about this for a while. It’s the Jew in me – like, 'Oh, no, you spent money!'

I have always been made sad when I have heard members of any race claiming rights and privileges, or certain badges of distinction, on the ground simply that they were members of this or that race, regardless of their own individual worth or attainments.

This was not guilt: guilt is what you feel when you have done something wrong. What I felt was shame: I was what was wrong.

I want to live, breathe,
I want to be part of the human race,