Colum McCann Quotes

When you fail to tell the truth, you are kept bound to the past in ways that devastate your soul.

There are different things I've done that I wouldn't do again that kept following me. That's the price that you pay when you make mistakes early on.

I used to lie a lot as a child, which I now regret. I think it is much easier just to tell the truth.

We cannot go back in time and change the past but we can repent.

It is important for people to know that no matter what lies in their past, they can overcome the dark side and press on the a brighter world.

There's mistakes that I have made. Some chances I just threw away. Some roads I never should've taken. Been some signs I didn't see. Hearts that I hurt needlessly. Some wounds that I wish I could have one more chance to mend, but it don't make no difference: The past can't be rewritten. You get the life you're given.

In the past two years, I've started the process of becoming a new man. I am much chastened and profoundly remorseful over the reckless and hurtful things I have done in my life, especially those which have brought me before you today.

There are no second chances in life, except to feel remorse.

As my Popo used to say, life is a tapestry we weave day by day with threads of different colors, some heavy and dark, others thin and bright, all the threads having their uses. The stupid things I did are already in the tapestry, indelible, but I’m not going to be weighed down by them till I die. What’s done is done; I have to look ahead.

I'm a grown man. You know, I've been in a lot of scrapes, but I never felt like I got so - there are probably a lot of things I should have done that I didn't do.

I can't remember any regrets, to be honest with you.

In my life, I have made the occasional catastrophic choice, and it's just a case of moving on and learning from it.

I guess none of us like to look back in our lives to a time when we made poor judgments and foolish mistakes.

I am not the kind of woman who excuses her mistakes while reminding us of what used to be.

There's not day that goes by that I don't remember why I'm in the situation I'm in.

We played hard and we partied hard. I'm not ashamed of that. I was no angel - I did some things I shouldn't have done, lived a lifestyle I shouldn't have lived. I had a blast at times; other times, I probably compromised my job, my duty to do my job, to be ready as a professional.

Begin thus from the first act, and proceed; and, in conclusion, at the ill which thou hast done, be troubled, and rejoice for the good.

People pay for what they do, and still more for what they have allowed themselves to become. And they pay for it very simply; by the lives they lead.

Life is about choices. Some we regret, some were proud of. Some will haunt us forever. 'Black Rain' was very much about choices. The message - we are what we chose to be.

I have many regrets, and I'm sure everyone does. The stupid things you do, you regret... if you have any sense, and if you don't regret them, maybe you're stupid.

I firmly believe that you live and learn, and if you don't learn from past mistakes, then you need to be drug out and shot.

That wasn't the way that things was supposed to be. And all because the so-called culture that I thought was right, that I thought it was cool, and I thought it was fun, and it was exciting at the time. It all led to me laying in a prison bunk by myself with no one to talk to but myself.

I wanted to cause trouble, but I know now it stays with you.

Having been through the muck and mire, I've had my own brush with bad choices.

I made some choices that weren't right in the past. It cost me in terms of my confidence and everything.