21 of the Best Quotes on Regret and Dealing with Regrets in Life

Sometimes in life you need to look to others when dealing with certain things that you are going through. Quotes from people we respect or people who have been through the same thing as us can give us really useful snippets of advice to use, as long as we don’t take them for granted and we actually think about them. Regret is a very real and difficult emotion to deal with, so here I have compiled some of the best quotes on regret and quotes on dealing with regrets in life.

The general takeaway from these is that, if you were to imagine looking back on your life in the future and you can see yourself regretting that you didn’t do something, then you should do that thing (and vise versa), but, also, if you do have regrets, then learn from them and then let the regret go.

Having regrets can be hard, but regrets can also help you to learn about what you should do moving forwards and what you should do in the future. Holding on to regret, however, can cause more pain than is useful and can stop you moving forwards in life.

So take these quotes on regret in, think about them, and then apply them to your life!

Side note: if you want some more information on how to deal with regret or generally living with regret, I encourage you to check the linked post out.

The best quotes on regret and dealing with regrets in life

“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

“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.”

Jim Rohn

“Sometimes over things that I did, movies that didn’t turn out very well – you go, ‘Why did you do that?’ But in the end, I can’t regret them because I met amazing people. There was always something that was worth it.”

Robin Williams

“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

“Mistakes are a drag, because you get in the area of regret and self-pity.”

Carrie Fisher

“I can’t take it back. I can’t take anything back. So I don’t regret it.”

Allen Iverson

“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

“If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret.”

Jim Carrey

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves – regret for the past and fear of the future.”

Fulton Oursler

“It’s not what your are, it’s what you don’t become that hurts.”

Oscar Levant

“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.”

George Halas

“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.”

John Barrymore

“‘We should regret our mistakes and learn from them, but never carry them forward into the future with us.”

Lucy Maud Montgomery

“Regret of neglected opportunity is the worst hell that a living soul can inhabit.”

Rafael Sabatini

“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!”

John Greenleaf Whittier

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

Alexander Graham Bell

“Life is too short, time is too precious, and the stakes are too high to dwell on what might have been.”

Hilary Clinton

“Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.”

Victoria Holt

“Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.”

Jonathan Larson

“If only. Those must be the two saddest words in the world.”

Mercedes Lackey

“I made decisions that I regret, and I took them as learning experiences… I’m human, not perfect, like anybody else.”

Queen Latifah

What did you think about these regret quotes? Do you have any favourite quotes on regrets? Let me know in the comments and maybe I will add some!

Further reading

If you are living with regret and want to know how to get over regret, that post is for you.

If you’re feeling inspired and are asking yourself, “should I follow my dreams?” then I encourage you to check out this post.

If you are still dealing with regret and maybe feeling like you have wasted so much time in your life, then this post may be useful to you.