Jane Fonda Quotes

I left acting for 15 years, and I think it's really nice to have another life. I took too much for granted when I was younger. I didn't really want to be an actor. I didn't really love it. And so I made a lot of mistakes. Oddly, I care much more about it now. I feel like a complete novice.

One of the most difficult things to think about in life is one’s regrets. Something will happen to you, and you will do the wrong thing, and for years afterward you will wish you had done something different.

If I'd trusted myself and listened to myself all the times that I ignored myself, I would have been fine. But everyone has to learn their lesson, and now I've got it.

As we grow older I always think, why didn't I do more when I was young, why didn't I risk more?

I've loved my 20s, but I would never repeat them.

There's been a lot of really cool stuff that's happened to me throughout my career, and I remember everything, but I don't think I savored every moment of it like I should have or like I do now.

I went through life like an idiot for a great deal of the time, saying there's nothing I would change. That was a very arrogant thing to say. There's a lot I would change. There are people I would have steered clear of.

I think sometimes in life we rush and only later look back and say, 'Wow, that was something pretty cool that I did,' and we realize we should have been more aware while it was happening.

There were a couple of years where I got a bit lost - I went out too much, I was a bit heartbroken, thought I was a bit more of a dude than I really was. I would love to go back and have a strong word with myself.

I wouldn't go back and change anything.

If I had it all to do over again, I would do most all things differently. However, how would I know that if, I had not had the opportunity to do them the first time.

You look at the road you could have taken, you know, I just think that's interesting... I've been on a lot of roads and I had to hitchhike on a couple of 'em... I have to be very honest: There's not an awful lot of regret in my life. I think that, you know, you learn from everything, and then, sometimes, you don't.

I don't feel like a very nostalgic person. I think about the past much more clinically. When I look back and wonder, 'Why was I doing that? Was it a waste of time?' I don't beat myself up. Instead, I say, 'I'm so glad I did that, because now I really know what matters to me.'

I took a lot of wrong decisions, and got talked into a lot of things. Of course, if I could go back in time, I might change some things, but wouldn't everyone? I have no regrets.

I don't regret anything in life.

Ten years ago, if you asked me where I'd be now, I'd have said F-ing dead. But I'm not dead. I have an awesome life. And I'm just very grateful. That's the one thing I try to convey. Gratitude.

The fact is that this conversation is going on at every level at every age, we're all going, "God, what a jerk I've been," "How could I have married that guy?" or "How could I have done this or that?" With time, this is the gift of being older, that you get to look back and say, "It wasn't all about them."

I'm older, and I wish that a lot of things that I did in my life, I didn't do, but I'm able to talk about it.

I don't really regret much. I know there are things that I've done that have been wrong, and wish I could do over again, but I feel it's all made me who I am today, and I'm very thankful for that.

I think I've far exceeded what I ever thought I could possibly do. I'm almost shocked that I'm still around after all of these years . . . and always grateful that I get another turn to do something.

A lot of people say if they could go back in time they would not change anything. But, to be honest with you, I like it and I don't like it. I like the fact that all I went through as a youngster made me a great man, but just goin' through what I went through - I wouldn't wanna go through that again. I wouldn't wish that on nobody.

I was in such a hurry to be an actor. Now I'm sometimes mad at myself that I didn't stop and study for a couple of years.

I wrote about wasting time, which I suppose is a part of the great human journey. We're supposed to wallow, to go through the desert without water for a long time so that when we finally drink it, we'll truly need it and we won't spill a drop. It's about being present.

I think I did a lot of really stupid stuff really quickly in my twenties and that sort of led me to want to sort of just relax a little bit. Relax a lot.

I truly don't believe in regret.