"It occurred to him that what had appeared perfectly impossible before, namely that he had not spent his life as he should have done, might after all be true. It occurred to him that his scarcely perceptible attempts to struggle against what was considered good by the most highly placed people, those scarcely noticeable impulses which he had immediately suppressed, might have been the real thing, and all the rest false. And his professional duties and the whole arrangement of his life and of his family, and all his social and official interests, might all have been false. He tried to defend all those things to himself and suddenly felt the weakness of what he was defending."

"Abandon all remorse; On horror's head horrors accumulate."

"High minds, of native pride and force, Most deeply feel thy pangs, Remorse; Fear, for their scourge, mean villains have, Thou art the torturer of the brave!"

"The real affliction of old age is remorse."

"Farewell, remorse: all good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my good."

"Remorse is not among the eternal verities. The Greeks were right to dethrone her. Her action is too capricious, as though the Erinyes selected for punishment only certain men and certain sins. And of all means to regeneration, Remorse is surely the most wasteful. It cuts away healthy tissues with the poisoned. It is a knife that probes far deeper than the evil."

"I could have better spar'd a better man."

"For who, alas! has lived, Nor in the watches of the night recalled Words he has wished unsaid and deeds undone."

"O lost days of delight, that are wasted in doubting and waiting! O lost hours and days in which we might have been happy!"

"No simple word That shall be uttered at our mirthful board, Shall make us sad next morning; or affright The liberty that we'll enjoy to-night."

"Thou wilt lament Hereafter, when the evil shall be done And shall admit no cure."

"Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel, He nursed the pinion, which impell'd the steel."

"I have no regrets. If you regret things, you're sort of stepping backwards. I'm a believer in going forwards."

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

"It occurred to him that what had appeared perfectly impossible before, namely that he had not spent his life as he should have done, might after all be true. It occurred to him that his scarcely perceptible attempts to struggle against what was considered good by the most highly placed people, those scarcely noticeable impulses which he had immediately suppressed, might have been the real thing, and all the rest false. And his professional duties and the whole arrangement of his life and of his family, and all his social and official interests, might all have been false. He tried to defend all those things to himself and suddenly felt the weakness of what he was defending."

"What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot to-day? They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by them."

"Dear as remembered kisses after death, And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned On lips that are for others; deep as love,— Deep as first love, and wild with all regret. Oh death in life, the days that are no more!"

"I have often regretted my speech, never my silence."

"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone."

"the keen sting of regret"

"Men may scoff, and men may pray, But they pay Every pleasure with a pain."

"Trahit sua quemque voluptas."

"Nam id arbitror Adprime in vita esse utile ut ne quid nimis."

"I built my soul a lordly pleasure-house, Wherein at ease for aye to dwell."

"Pleasure is frail like a dewdrop, while it laughs it dies. But sorrow is strong and abiding. Let sorrowful love wake in your eyes."

"Prævalent illicita."

"Non quam multis placeas, sed qualibus stude."

"Spangling the wave with lights as vain As pleasures in this vale of pain, That dazzle as they fade."

"Pleasure admitted in undue degree Enslaves the will, nor leaves the judgment free."

"Continuis voluptatibus vicina satietas."

"Diliguntur immodice sola quæ non licent; * * * non nutrit ardorem concupiscendi, ubi frui licet."

"Dum licet inter nos igitur lætemur amantes; Non satis est ullo tempore longus amor."

"The little pleasure of the game Is from afar to view the flight."

"Usque adeo nulli sincera, voluptas, Solicitique aliquid l�tis intervenit."

"Blanda truces animos fertur mollisse voluptas."

"Quod licet est ingratum quod non licet acrius urit."

"God made all pleasures innocent."

"The roses of pleasure seldom last long enough to adorn the brow of him who plucks them; for they are the only roses which do not retain their sweetness after they have lost their beauty."

"There is a pleasure which is born of pain."

"Ah, no! the conquest was obtained with ease; He pleased you by not studying to please."

"Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angat."

"Voluptates commendat rarior usus."

"Pleasure the servant, Virtue looking on."

"I fly from pleasure, because pleasure has ceased to please: I am lonely because I am miserable."

"Vivo et regno, simul ista reliqui Quæ vos ad cœlum effertis rumore secundo."

"Sperne voluptates; nocet empta dolore voluptas."

"Ficta voluptatis causa sint proxima veris."

"Follow pleasure, and then will pleasure flee, Flee pleasure, and pleasure will follow thee."

"Zu oft ist kurze Lust die Quelle langer Schmerzen!"

"No pleasure is in itself evil, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail annoyances many times greater than the pleasures themselves."