Wislawa Szymborska Quotes

There's nothing half so real in life as the things you've done... inexorably, unalterably done.

You can say the opposite of something you've said but you can't do the opposite of something you've done.

You can't take back an act you were able to think.

There's some bells you can't unring.

What happens to you here is forever.

Things that are easily done are often much harder to undo. Sometimes, impossible.

Things are so easy to do, so hard to undo.

Nothing we do is inevitable, but everything we do is irreversible.

It's not about knowing who you are. It's about thinkin you got there without takin anything with you. Your notions about startin over. or anybody's. You dont start over. That's what it's about. Every step you take is forever. You can't make it go away. None of it.

Can one end anything? A chapter, a paragraph, a sentence even? Doesn't everything one has ever done go on living in spite of subsequent events?

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

I like to say there's certain things you can't take back: One of them is 'I love you,' and one of them is bullets.

Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.

There's no such thing as coulda, shoulda, or woulda. If you shoulda and coulda, you woulda done it.

We seal our fate with the choices we take, but don't give a second thought to the chances we take.

You don't get many do-overs in life.

I cannot take back one word or action; the past does not change for anyone.

Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get it back in.

Tattoos are a down payment on a future regret.

I can't take it back. I can't take anything back. So I don't regret it.

The past can never be erased. It is always going to be there.

I know, but no matter what I choose I have to live with it. Forever. I have to be able to go forward and not look back anymore. Can you understand that?

Doomed enterprises divide lives forever into the then and now

Every action and decision we take – or don’t – ripples into the future. For the first time we have the capability, the technology, and the knowledge to direct these ripples.

Speeches pass away, but acts remain.