Some Regrets

Sunday, October 3, 2010 – Some Regrets

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

The place where optimism most flourishes is the lunatic asylum. ~ Havelock Ellis

An ardent supporter of the hometown team should go to a game prepared to take offense, no matter what happens. ~ Robert Benchley

It is dangerous for a national candidate to say things that people might remember. ~ Eugene McCarthy

Blame someone else and get on with your life. ~ Alan Woods

I’m an idealist. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way. ~ Carl Sandburg

Falsity cannot keep an idea from being beautiful; there are certain errors of such ingenuity that one could regret their not ranking among the achievements of the human mind. ~ Jean Rostand

Why are our days numbered and not, say, lettered? ~ Woody Allen

Here I am, safely returned over those peaks from a journey far more beautiful and strange than anything I had hoped for or imagined – how is it that this safe return brings such regret? ~ Peter Matthiessen

I acknowledge Shakespeare to be the world’s greatest dramatic poet, but regret that no parent could place the uncorrected book in the hands of his daughter, and therefore I have prepared the Family Shakespeare. ~ Thomas Bowdler

I am a Senator against my wishes and feelings, which I regret more than any other of my life. ~ Andrew Jackson

I don’t have nothing to regret at all in the past, except that I might’ve unintentionally hurt somebody else or something. ~ Jimi Hendrix

I don’t have to wait until the next morning to regret something I did that was kinda dumb. ~ Bobby Knight

I have many regrets, and I’m sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret… if you have any sense, and if you don’t regret them, maybe you’re stupid. ~ Katharine Hepburn

I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn’t study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people. ~ Dan Quayle

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

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh. ~ Henry David Thoreau

My biggest regret in life is that I didn’t hit John Denver in the mouth while I has the chance. ~ Denis Leary

No, I don’t regret anything at this point. That may change on the next phone call, but at the moment I don’t regret anything. ~ William Shatner

No, I regret nothing, all I regret is having been born, dying is such a long tiresome business, I always found. ~ Samuel Beckett

Perfection is such a nuisance that I often regret having cured myself of using tobacco. ~ Emile Zola

I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I’d just been myself. ~ Brittany Renée

If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world. ~ Mercedes Lackey

Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience. ~ Victoria Holt

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

Remorse is the poison of life. ~ Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre

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

People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent. ~ Bob Dylan

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. ~ Oscar Wilde

The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught. ~ H. L. Mencken

The discontented believe that their regrets are about the past. ~ Mason Cooley

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