By Maxime Lagacé
Maxime is the founder of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm and peaceful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.
Here are 115 of the most inspiring regret quotes I could find. The goal? To give you the push you need to forget and have a fulfilling day (and life). Enjoy!
Have more fear of regret than failure. Thibaut
The pain of inaction stings longer than the pain of incorrect action. James Clear
Having regrets when you gave everything is wasted time. Maxime Lagacé
Never regret anything that made you smile. Mark Twain
We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. Jim Rohn
One day of effort is one day of bliss; One day of sloth is a hundred years of regret. Awa Kenzô
The greatest freedoms are freedom from regret, freedom from fear, freedom from anxiety, and freedom from sorrow. Thich Nhat Hanh
Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Seneca
It is better to sleep on things beforehand than lie awake about them afterwards. Baltasar Gracián
Avoid things the best version of yourself will regret. Shane Parrish
You should never regret anything in life. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience. Victoria Holt
A man is not old until his regrets take the place of his dreams. Yiddish proverb
I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done. Lucille Ball
If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret. Jim Carrey
Take risks. You can’t find meaning by playing it safe. Maxime Lagacé
Related
- 110 Memories Quotes To Ponder, Reflect And Inspire
- 79 Unhappy Quotes To Help You Stop Feeling Miserable
- 89 Moving On Quotes To Bring Lightness Into Your Life
The Best Regret Quotes
Discipline weighs ounces and regret weighs tons. Jim Rohn
Regret is scarier than change. Mel Robbins
The greatest fault in life is that it is always unfinished, that something is being postponed. Seneca
Failure hurts but passes quickly. Regret hurts forever. Shane Parrish
When it comes to regrets, it’s the dreams we didn’t go after that haunt us — the business we didn’t start, the book we didn’t write, the love we let slip away. When pursuing your dreams you won’t remember the bruises and failures, only the person you become. Shane Parrish
The pain of trying and failing is intense and over rather quickly. The pain of failing to try, on the other hand, is less intense but never really goes away. Shane Parrish
There are two ways to achieve calm: one is to never do what you regret, the other to never regret what you do. August Strindberg
I don’t want to be 80-years-old and in a quiet moment of reflection, thinking back over my life, and cataloging a bunch of major regrets. Jeff Bezos (Amazon)
Avoiding regret is more important to life satisfaction than increasing accomplishments. Shane Parrish
Look to your own means, leave everything that isn’t yours alone. Make use of what material advantages you have, don’t regret the ones you were not allowed. Epictetus
Life is simple: Make choices and don’t look back. Sung Kang
Your higher self never looks back. Everything valuable is in the now. Andy Wang
Regret feels a 1000x worse than failure. Preethi Kasireddy
Remorse for what is done is useless. Philo
The great tragedy of the average man is that he goes to his grave with his music still in him. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, “It might have been.” Kurt Vonnegut
Regret is a form of punishment itself. Nouman Ali Khan
The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits. Theodore Roosevelt
When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. Alexander Graham Bell
Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting. Haruki Murakami
Judging is easy. Executing is hard. That’s why the majority have regrets. Maxime Lagacé
Fear not for the future, weep not for the past. Percy Bysshe Shelley
Part 2. Regret Quotes That Are…
The Most Famous Regret Quotes
Searching for a famous regret quote? Check out those by Jim Rohn, Thich Nhat Hanh, Seneca, etc.
I have often regretted my speech, but never my silence. Publilius Syrus
True repentance is to cease from sin. Ambrose
Looking back over a life of hard work… my only regret is that I didn’t work even harder. Henry Louis Mencken
There are no regrets in life, just lessons. Jennifer Aniston
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 for wallowing in. Katherine Mansfield
The great source of calamity lies in regret or anticipation: he, therefore, is most wise who thinks of the present alone, regardless of the past or the future. Oliver Goldsmith
Regret is useless in life. It’s in the past. All we have is now. Marlon Brando
My only regret in life is that I did not drink more wine. Ernest Hemingway
Make the most of your regrets… To regret deeply is to live afresh. Henry David Thoreau
If you marry, you will regret it; if you do not marry, you will also regret it. Søren Kierkegaard
What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. George Saunders
I don’t believe in regrets. Regrets just keep you chained to the past. You gotta make peace with the past. There’s no reason to regret it. You’ve done it, just make peace with it. Bob Dylan
It’s better to bet on this life than on the next. Albert Camus
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)
Dead people receive more flowers than the living ones because regret is stronger than gratitude. Anne Frank
Never regret anything because at one time it was exactly what you wanted. Marilyn Monroe
Don’t think about what you’ve left behind. Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist, Amazon book)
Regret is something you’ve got to just live with, you can’t drink it away. You can’t run away from it. You can’t trick yourself out of it. You’ve just got to own it. Anthony Bourdain
Never look back in regret – move on to the next thing. Richard Branson
Related: 70 People Ages 5-75 Answer: What’s Your Biggest Regret? (5-minute YouTube video)
Inspirational Regret Quotes
Minimize regrets. Maximize opportunities. Maxime Lagacé
You get one life. Do it all. Don’t leave anything in reserve. Shane Parrish
Live fast, fight hard, no regrets! John Cena
Advice my dad just gave me: “Do your best and be at peace with it.” A good reminder for us all, I think. James Clear
In a world where death is the hunter, my friend, there is no time for regrets or doubts. There is only time for decisions. Carlos Castaneda
My old high school football coach used to say … If you give it everything you have and you fail you’ll have one night of bad sleep but if you don’t give it everything you have and you fail you will think about how you should have for the rest of your life. Shane Parrish
It’s better to start something and risk looking like an idiot than sit there and accomplish nothing. Shane Parrish
The less energy we waste regretting the past or worrying about the future, the more energy we will have for what’s in front of us. Ryan Holiday (Stillness is the Key, Amazon book)
Try today or regret tomorrow. Maxime Lagacé
Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn’t chase. You will look back longingly on risks not taken, opportunities not seized, and dreams not pursued. Stop running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path. Mark Batterson
But who can say what’s best? That’s why you need to grab whatever chance you have of happiness where you find it, and not worry about other people too much. My experience tells me that we get no more than two or three such chances in a life time, and if we let them go, we regret it for the rest of our lives. Haruki Murakami (Norwegian Wood, Amazon book)
If you don’t take risks you’ll never know. If you don’t know you’ll have regrets. Maxime Lagacé
I believe that what we regret most are our failures of courage, whether it’s the courage to be kinder, to show up, to say how we feel, to set boundaries, to be good to ourselves. For that reason, regret can be the birthplace of empathy. Brené Brown
To give up yourself without regret is the greatest charity. Bodhidharma
My religion is to live and die without regret. Milarepa
At the end of the day, let there be no excuses, no explanations, no regrets. Steve Maraboli
Bravery is the solution to regret. Robin S. Sharma
Deep Regret Quotes
Regret doesn’t come from failure. It comes from giving up. Mel Robbins
My guilt is an ocean for me to drown in. Nicola Yoon
Overthinking is the problem. Taking action is the solution. Maxime Lagacé
Regret, is usually a waste of time. As is gloating. Pierce Brosnan
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
Regret for time wasted can become a power for good in the time that remains, if we will only stop the waste and the idle, useless regretting. Arthur Brisbane
Don’t be on your deathbed someday, having squandered your one chance at life, full of regret because you pursued little distractions instead of big dreams. Derek Sivers
You can always find a “good reason” to put off what needs to be done. Time will turn excuses into regrets. @TheStoicEmperor
One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself. Shannon L. Alder
The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave to it neither power nor time. Mary Oliver
The fear of becoming old is born of the recognition that one is not living now the life that one wishes. Susan Sontag
It takes a certain lack of imagination to have an entirely clean conscience. Alain de Botton
Only one infinite deception is possible: self-deception. Søren Kierkegaard
Ah, it’s my longing for whom I might have been that distracts and torments me! Fernando Pessoa
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
The only regret I will have in dying is if it is not for love. Gabriel García Márquez
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. Harriet Beecher Stowe
Why didn’t I learn to treat everything like it was the last time. My greatest regret was how much I believed in the future. Jonathan Safran Foer
If I’m sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomforrow? José Saramago
Making a big life change is pretty scary. But know what’s even scarier? Regret. Zig Ziglar
Regret is such a pointless emotion, don’t you agree? Cassandra Clare
Do more things you’ll never regret. Maxime Lagacé
Related: The 25 Biggest Regrets In Life. What Are Yours? (forbes.com)
Wise Regret Quotes
The wiser you get the more absorbed you are in the moment. Fools live in the future. The wise live now. Maxime Lagacé
Regret is worse than embarrassment. What exists beats what doesn’t. Thibaut
When the fear of being a fool is stronger than the hope of being a genius, the status quo thrives. Thibaut
The quickest way to stop dwelling on the past is to see that it isn’t there. There are only challenges to be met now. Thibaut
Past is a fiction. You can’t go back. All that remains is a hazy interpretation of a hazy memory. It’s not helpful. Naval Ravikant
When you give it your all and it doesn’t work out, you are broken for a while but it passes because you have no regrets. You gave it everything you had. Shane Parrish
Avoiding doing something that could fail ensures you never do anything great. Shane Parrish
The mistakes I’ve made are dead to me. But I can’t take back the things I never did. Jonathan Safran Foer
Time is one of the most under-appreciated models we all encounter, and yet it’s the most ubiquitous. When employed correctly, time becomes an amplifier. When spent without consideration, it becomes a persistent source of regret. Shane Parrish
The correlation between confidence and future regret is incredibly high. Morgan Housel
If you accomplish something good with hard work, the labor passes quickly, but the good endures; if you do something shameful in pursuit of pleasure, the pleasure passes quickly, but the shame endures. Musonius Rufus
Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence. Eckhart Tolle
Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable. Sydney J. Harris
It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Seneca
My dad used to say that living with regrets was like driving a car that only moved in reverse. Jodi Picoult
Death may be close at hand; death may be far off. Transcend death with no-thought, no-idea. Do what you need to do, with no regret. Awa Kenzô
Essentialism means living life without regrets. Greg McKeown
Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets. Arthur Miller
Fear less. Try more. Maxime Lagacé
Part 3. Conclusion
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 (Related: The Last Lecture, cmu.edu)
On your deathbed, you won’t wish you had more twitter followers, an extra zero in your bank account, or were the President. Instead, you’ll be thinking about the people that mattered and whether you were there for them. It’s not too late. Change the path, change the outcome. Shane Parrish
Further Readings
- Topic: Sadness
- 73 Sad Quotes To Bring Relief
- 79 Suffering Quotes To Bring Some Relief In Your Life
- The Top Life Regret of Dying Hospital Patients (jamesclear.com)
- 90 Hope Quotes That Will Nourish Your Soul
- 79 Optimism Quotes To Improve Your Mood (With Images)
- 79 Positive Quotes To Uplift Yourself
Hope you enjoyed these inspiring regret quotes. If you did, please share them with a friend today!
Do you have regrets? What’s your favorite regret quote? And remember: words can transform your life, if you find the right ones.
Table Of Contents
Part 1
Top 15 Images
Best Quotes
Part 2
Quotes That ARE
Famous
Inspirational
Deep
Wise
Part 3
Conclusion
