A Literary Prescription for

Regret

For the choice you cannot stop returning to, and the discovery that regret, examined honestly, has something useful to teach you.

Regret tends to be treated as something to avoid or suppress, but recent research suggests it may be one of the most useful emotions available — precisely because it shows you, with great clarity, what you actually value. The books, poems, and words gathered here take regret seriously, not as a verdict on your worth, but as information worth examining.

Books Poetry Quotes & Prose

Books

Prescribed reading

Books that treat regret as something worth examining, not simply avoiding.

The Power of Regret

Daniel H. Pink · 2022

Pink surveyed tens of thousands of people about their regrets and found remarkably consistent patterns — most regret falls into just four categories, and understanding them can clarify what you actually want from the rest of your life. For readers who fear regret as purely negative, Pink reframes it as one of the most useful navigational tools available.

No Regrets Parenting

Dr. Harley A. Rotbart · 2012

Though framed around parenting specifically, Rotbart’s argument — that most adult regret centres on time not spent rather than mistakes made — applies far more broadly. For readers whose regret involves relationships rather than decisions, this reframe toward presence over perfection is genuinely useful.

Tuesdays with Morrie

Mitch Albom · 1997

Albom’s account of his weekly visits with his dying former professor distils a lifetime of wisdom about what actually matters — and what does not turn out to matter nearly as much as we feared while we were busy fearing it. For readers haunted by regret over choices made under different priorities, Morrie’s perspective from the end of life offers genuine, hard-won clarity.

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig · 2020

Haig’s novel allows its protagonist to actually live out the lives she regrets not choosing — and discovers, in each one, a different and equally real set of difficulties. For readers convinced the unchosen path would have been better, Haig’s thought experiment offers a gentle, fictional reality check.

Poems about regret

For when prose is not enough

Poems for the road not taken, and the one you actually walked.

“The Road Not Taken”

Robert Frost, 1916

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Frost’s most famous and most misread poem is actually about the stories we construct after the fact — how the two roads were, by his own description, really about the same, and the difference was largely invented in hindsight. For anyone tormented by what might have been, Frost gently suggests the other road may not have been so different after all.

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“The Layers” (extract)

Stanley Kunitz, 1978

I have walked through many lives,
some of them my own,
and I am not who I was,
though some principle of being
abides, from which I struggle
not to stray.

Kunitz looks back over a long life of choices, some better than others, without flinching and without despairing — finding instead a continuous thread of self running through all of it. For readers reviewing their own choices with regret, Kunitz models a way of looking back that does not require self-condemnation.

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“After a While”

Veronica A. Shoffstall, 1971

After a while you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul,
and you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
and company doesn’t mean security.

Shoffstall’s poem accumulates hard-won wisdom from past mistakes without bitterness — treating each lesson as something gained rather than purely something regretted. For anyone whose regrets have at least taught them something, this poem offers a way to hold both truths.

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Quotes & Prose

Quotes about regret to keep

For the choices you keep returning to, and what they might actually be telling you.

I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.

Rosa Parks

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In twenty years, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.

Mark Twain

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

Victoria Holt

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Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are ‘it might have been.’

Kurt Vonnegut

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Regret is not a sentence. It is a signpost, pointing toward what you actually value. Read it, then keep walking.

Georgia Clare

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From Georgia

Pause here, if you need to

A short practice for sitting with regret, whenever you need somewhere to land.

Letting Go Of Guilt And Self-Blame

Guided meditation by Georgia Clare

A gentle space for softening guilt and self-blame, helping you release shame and reconnect with your own worth.

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The Inner Peace Toolkit

Digital Self-Care Toolkit · Georgia Clare

2 guided meditations, an Inner Peace Journal, an affirmations eBook, 10 printable affirmation prints and 10 calming phone wallpapers — small daily practices to come back to whenever you need to slow down and reconnect with yourself.

Explore the Toolkit →

Questions people ask

Reading for Regret

Where should I start?

If you only read one thing, begin with The Power of Regret by Daniel H. Pink. Pink surveyed tens of thousands of people about their regrets and found remarkably consistent patterns — most regret falls into just four categories… And if a whole book feels like too much today, scroll to the poems below — “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost can be read in a minute and asks nothing of you.

What’s the shortest thing to read here?

Start with the short forms on this page — the poems and the lines to keep — rather than a whole book. A poem or a single quote asks very little of you, and you don’t have to read in order, or finish anything.

What are some good quotes about regret?

Quotes about regret worth keeping include “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear.” (Rosa Parks), “In twenty years, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones…” (Mark Twain) and “Never regret. If it’s good, it’s wonderful. If it’s bad, it’s experience.” (Victoria Holt). You’ll find these and more in the quotes section above.

What can reading give me when I’m struggling with regret?

Company, mostly — and the strange relief of recognition. The right words won’t erase regret, but they can hold it with you for a while, name what you couldn’t, and remind you that you’re in good company, even at your lowest.

Regret

Prescribed reading

For when prose is not enough

Quotes about regret to keep

Pause here, if you need to

Reading for Regret

Where should I start?

What’s the shortest thing to read here?

What are some good quotes about regret?

What can reading give me when I’m struggling with regret?

More prescriptions await.