- Ah, it’s my longing for whom I might have been that distracts and torments me! Fernando Pessoa
- “There can be, if I forebode aright, no power, short of the Divine mercy, to disclose, whether by uttered words, or by type or emblem, the secrets that may be buried with a human heart. The heart, making itself guilty of such secrets, must perforce hold them, until the day when all hidden things shall be revealed. Nor have I so read or interpreted the Holy Writ, as to understand that the disclosure of human thoughts and deeds, then to be made, is intended as part of the retribution. That, surely, were a shallow view of it. No; these revelations, unless I greatly error, are meant merely to promote the intellectual satisfaction of all intelligent beings, who will stand waiting, on that day, to see the dark problem of this life made plain. A knowledge of men’s hearts will be needful to the completest solution of that problem. And I conceive, moreover, that the hearts holding such secrets as you speak of will yield them up, at that last day, not with reluctance, but with a joy unutterable.” ― Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
- “Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” ― Roy T. Bennett
- “BLESSINGS ARE IMMEASURABLEYou canLose a childOr a parent,The love of your life,A good job,A game,A deal,A bet,An idea,Your favorite thing,Money,Your best friend,A moment,An opportunity,A chance,Your keys,Your mind,Your health,Your identity,Your virginity,Your religion,Your shirt,Your license,ID or Passport,Phone or phone number,Hope,Faith,Luck,Your pride,Or your house,And feel likeYou’ve lost everything,And keep on losing.StopCounting lossesAnd start counting your blessings.Only then,Will you discover that lossesAre easier to point outAnd countThan blessings,And that blessingsOutnumber your lossesFor they are trulyImmeasurable.It is only normal thatPeople count losses withTheir minds,And ignoreTo count blessingsWith the graciousnessOf their hearts.” ― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
- Fear not for the future, weep not for the past. Percy Bysshe Shelley
- “if we really look at our actions with eyes of love, we see that our lives can be more straightforward, simpler, less sculpted by regret and fear, more in alignment with our deepest values.” ― Sharon Salzberg, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection
- Regret is useless in life. It’s in the past. All we have is now. Marlon Brando
- “Hindsight, I think, is a useless tool. We, each of us, are at a place in our lives because of innumerable circumstances, and we, each of us, have a responsibility (if we do not like where we are) to move along life’s road, to find a better path if this one does not suit, or to walk happily along this one if it is indeed our life’s way. Changing even the bad things that have gone before would fundamentally change who we are, and whether or not that would be a good thing, I believe, it is impossible to predict. So I take my past experiences… and try to regret nothing. -Drizzt Do’urden” ― R.A. Salvatore, Sea of Swords
- Your higher self never looks back. Everything valuable is in the now. Andy Wang
- “For a successful life, you should have to learn from your past. Think the mistakes you’ve made in the past, but learn from that instead of regret.” ― Zeeshan Ali
- “When your only regret is if anyone thinks you regret anything – that is the definition of conviction.” ― Criss Jami, Diotima, Battery, Electric Personality
- “How I wish I was like the water,Flowing so freely with every dropLet my every emotion wonder,No need to start, nor even stopHow I wish I was like the fire,Burning with every flame upLeaving a trace of hot desireAs a Phoenix raises its’ wings upHow I wish I was like the earth,Raising each flower from the groundSeeing the beauty of death and birthAnd then returning to the groundHow I wish I was like the wind,Hearing each whisper, sound and thoughtA lonesome and wandering little wind,Shattering all that has been soughtOh, how I wish I was where you are,Not separated by empty space, so farIt seems like we’re galaxies apart,But we find hope within our heartAnd how I wish I was all of the above,So I can come below and yet forget,The beauty of angels which come down like a doveAnd demons who love with no regret.” ― Virgil Kalyana Mittata Iordache
- It is not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed. It is the things we do not. Randy Pausch (See also: The Last Lecture, cmu.edu)
- “You might be looking for reasons but there are no reasons.” ― Nina LaCour, Hold Still
- “For of all sad words of tongue or pen,The saddest are these: “It might have been!” ― John Greenleaf Whittier, Maud Muller
- “When we cannot share our values any longer and our incipient intentions have become blurry, common understanding may turn into irredeemable misunderstanding. If the spirit of common perspectives and commitments has irreversibly been broken, we might patently drift down into suspicion, remorse or regret. As such, shared initiatives ought to be reasoned and well thought-out to avoid ‘understanding’ becoming ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘hope’ breaking down into ‘heartbreak’. (“The unbreakable code ” )” ― Erik Pevernagie
- “Your heart will always go where your mind wanders.” ― Shannon L. Alder
- “People die with regret, and I want to die with respect and for that I am willing to take all the risks.” ― Anuj Jasani
- “You tread lightly through life, but you leave deep footprints that are hard for other people to fill.” ― Josie Silver, One Day in December
- “La luz del pasillo iluminaba débilmente mi rostro que se reflejaba de modo fantasmal en el cristal de la ventanilla y me hacía recordar el que tuve en la infancia, el que naufragó para siempre en la despedida, como si aquel niño se hallara agazapado en algún lugar de mi interior esperando un descuido mío para emerger de nuevo en las aguas fangosas del pasado con su sonrisa feliz y sus ojos brillantes.” ― Elia Barceló, El secreto del orfebre
- I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying. Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
- Fear less. Try more. Maxime Lagacé
- Until we have finally accepted the fact that there is nothing we can do to change the past, our feelings of regret and remorse and bitterness will prevent us from designing a better future with the opportunity that is before us today. Jim Rohn
- “How to win in life:1 work hard 2 complain less 3 listen more 4 try, learn, grow5 don’t let people tell you it cant be done6 make no excuses” ― Germany Kent
- “Life is a reality don’t live it like a rehearsal.” ― Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words
- “The skeletons of the past must not hold back the dream of a new life, even though fear and regret, guilt and remorse may unsettle us during the effort to give our future a new home. (“Into a new life”)” ― Erik Pevernagie
- Take risks. You can’t find meaning by playing it safe. Maxime Lagacé
- “I am grateful for all those dark years, even though in retrospect they seem like a long, bitter prayer that was answered finally.” ― Marilynne Robinson
- “When anything and everything you ask for is handed to you, those hands seem to blur into nothingness and you forget they’re alive just like you are.” ― Mandy Ashcraft
- The past makes you wanna die out of regret and future makes you depressed out of anxiety. So by elimination, the present is likely the happiest time. Hachiman Hikigaya