Regret is to feel sorry about a situation, especially something sad or wrong or a mistake that you have made. Inspirational regret quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
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Famous Regret Quotes
The one thing I learned is to just give everything a shot. You don’t want to live in regret. Chloe Kim
Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it. Eliza Tabor
Our biggest regrets are not for the things we have done but for the things we haven’t done. Chad Michael Murray
If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment. Henry David Thoreau
There are two kinds of guilt the kind that drowns you until you’re useless, and the kind that fires your soul to purpose. Sabaa Tahir
We must all suffer one of two things the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. Jim Rohn
Have you ever hoped for something? And held out for it against all the odds? Until everything you did was ridiculous? Ali Shaw
The principles of living greatly include the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and trial with humility. Thomas S. Monson
Regret is mostly caused by not having done anything. Charles Bukowski
There’s always failure. And there’s always disappointment. And there’s always loss. But the secret is learning from the loss, and realizing that none of those holes are vacuums. Michael J. Fox
The past could always be annihilated. Regret, denial, or forgetfulness could do that. But the future was inevitable. Oscar Wilde
Disenchantment, whether it is a minor disappointment or a major shock, is the signal that things are moving into transition in our lives. William Throsby Bridges
Never regret trusting someone. It proves you have a heart. But if he turns out to be a lying worm, I’m not going to waste my time crying. Because I am way too fabulous for that. Jude Watson
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Jackson Brown Jr.
Living with regrets was like driving a car that only moved in reverse. Jodi Picoult
When you find your path, you must not be afraid. You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes. Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way. Paulo Coelho
You can’t regret the life you didn’t lead. Junot Díaz
It was one of those times you feel a sense of loss, even though you didn’t have something in the first place. I guess that’s what disappointment is a sense of loss for something you never had. Deb Caletti
Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, It might have been. Kurt Vonnegut
If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment. Henry David Thoreau
Heartbreak could be lived with if it weren’t accompanied by regret. Laura Kasischke
Disappointment is a sort of bankruptcy the bankruptcy of a soul that expends too much in hope and expectation. Eric Hoffer
If I’m sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow? José Saramago
There’s an epigram tacked to my office bulletin board, pinched from a magazine Wanting to meet an author because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pâté. Margaret Atwood
We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here now with the power to shape your day and your future. Steve Maraboli
Joy is sometimes a blessing, but it is often a conquest. Our magic moment helps us to change and sends us off in search of our dreams. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments but all of this is transitory it leaves no permanent mark. And one day we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken. Paulo Coelho
There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth. Charles Dickens
You really didn’t see the sadness or the longing unless you already knew it was there. But that was the trick, wasn’t it? Everyone had their disappointment and their baggage; only, some people carried it in their inside pockets and not on their backs. Maggie Stiefvater
Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. Arthur Miller
The strength of a love is always misjudged if we evaluate it by its immediate cause and not the stress that went before it, the dark and hollow space full of disappointment and loneliness that precedes all the great events in the heart’s history. Stefan Zweig
Not everything’s perfect, especially in the beginning. And it’s all right to have a little bit of regret every once in a while. It’s when you feel it all the time and can’t do anything about it. That’s when you get into trouble. Sarah Dessen
Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy. Roy T. Bennett
The mistakes I’ve made are dead to me. But I can’t take back the things I never did. Jonathan Safran Foer
It’s better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret. Jackie Joyner Kersee
Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in. Katherine Mansfield
Time was passing like a hand waving from a train I wanted to be on. I hope you never have to think about anything as much as I think about you. Jonathan Safran Foer
Forget regret, or life is yours to miss. No other path, no other way, no day but today. Jonathan Larson
If I’m sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow? José Saramago
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
One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself. Shannon L. Alder
I want to undo this. To make it right. But I have no idea how. I don’t seem to know how to open up to people without getting the door slammed in my face. So I do nothing. Gayle Forman
There was a long hard time when I kept far from me the remembrance of what I had thrown away when I was quite ignorant of its worth. Charles Dickens
Regret is counterproductive. It’s looking back on a past that you can’t change. Questioning things as they occur can prevent regret in the future. Colleen Hoover
Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. Arthur Miller
Everybody was sorry. Sorry was easy. Sorry was for suckers. Gretchen McNeil
If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world. Mercedes Lackey
If you had to relive your life exactly as it was, same successes and failures, same happiness, same miseries, same mixture of comedy and tragedy, would you want to? Was it worth it? Gavin Extence
The mistakes I’ve made are dead to me. But I can’t take back the things I never did. Jonathan Safran Foer
Four things do not come back the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life, and the neglected opportunity. Ted Chiang
You might be looking for reasons but there are no reasons. Nina LaCour
There are moments in your life where you realize you could do nothing, but if you do, you’ll probably regret it forever. Milana Vayntrub
Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, It might have been. Kurt Vonnegut
I try to face things without regret, or make sure that I’m happy with things and leave nothing unsaid if I can. Hozier
We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here now with the power to shape your day and your future. Steve Maraboli
Sensitive people either love deeply or they regret deeply. There really is no middle ground because they live in passionate extremes. Shannon L. Alder
We all do things we desperately wish we could undo. Those regrets just become part of who we are, along with everything else. To spend time trying to change that, well, it’s like chasing clouds. Libba Bray
Regrets are pointless. It’s too late for regrets. You’ve already done it, haven’t you? You’ve lived your life. No point wishing you could change it. Lemmy Kilmister
We don’t have to be defined by the things we did or didn’t do in our past. Some people allow themselves to be controlled by regret. Maybe it’s a regret, maybe it’s not. It’s merely something that happened. Get over it. Pittacus Lore
When we grow old, there can only be one regret, not to have given enough of ourselves. Eleonora Duse
Not everything’s perfect, especially in the beginning. And its all right to have a little bit of regret every once in a while. It’s when you feel it all the time and can’t do anything about it that’s when you get into trouble. Sarah Dessen
No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of worrying can change the future. Umar ibn Al Khattab
I don’t think I could love you so much if you had nothing to complain of and nothing to regret. I don’t like people who have never fallen or stumbled. Their virtue is lifeless and of little value. Life hasn’t revealed its beauty to them. Boris Pasternak
There is no more disastrous mania, no more dangerous whim, than the speculation over roads not taken. Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in. Katherine Mansfield
I’m too old to recover, too narrow to forgive myself. Lillian Hellman
Ah, it’s my longing for whom I might have been that distracts and torments me! Fernando Pessoa
The advance of regret can be so gradual that it is impossible to say Yesterday I was happy, Today I am not. E.M. Forster
The only victories which leave no regret are those which are gained over ignorance. Napoleon Bonaparte
Uncertainty is the worst of all evils until the moment when reality makes us regret uncertainty. Alphonse Karr
Never regret anything you have done with a sincere affection; nothing is lost that is born of the heart. Basil Rathbone
Sometimes I wish life was written pencil so we could erase it and write it all over again. Thisuri Wanniarachchi
Regret should be handled swiftly, and you shouldn’t hold onto it. People spend their entire lives regretting what they didn’t do and what they should’ve done. Hey, man, you did what you did. John Mellencamp
We should have taken our chances back then, when we were young and beautiful and didn’t even know it. Lois McMaster Bujold
The past could always be annihilated. Regret, denial, or forgetfulness could do that. But the future was inevitable. Oscar Wilde
Hope you enjoy reading this collection of powerful regret quotes and let me know in the comment section which one will become your daily mantra.
