Rutherford B. Hayes Quotes

We never find what we set out hearts on. We ought to be glad of that.

I am very sorry to say that I rejoiced when I once more perceived the towers of Windsor behind me.

Regret is the worst human emotion. If you took another road, you might have fallen off a cliff. I'm content.

Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul.

It took me less than half a lifetime to realize that regret is one of the few guaranteed certainties. Sooner or later everything is touched by it, despite our naive and senseless hope that just this time we will be spared its cold hand on our heart.

It's quite highly possible that I have peaked. I mean, I just can't imagine what else I could do beyond this. It's really a bittersweet kind of feeling.

We are never happy; we can only remember that we were so once.

Disappointment is a sticky one, because no one can steal contentment, joy, gratitude, or peace - we have to give it away.

I have to confess that I have so rarely experienced triumph that I cannot claim to know it well enough to judge, but it seems to be at best a momentary joy followed instantly by sadness, and, then, of necessity, by wariness.

Of course I'd have loved to be Prime Minister. But I'm not nursing a grievance.

There is stuff I would have liked to have done. But there are no sour grapes.

There's managers out there now who would love to have won a single trophy. The fact is the vast majority of them haven't. So I'm quite cool about what I did as a player and as a manager. Could I have done better, or differently? Of course. But that's all water that has flowed under the bridge; it doesn't cause me any sleepless nights.

If I were to finish my career without a title, I would certainly be disappointed. But I don't think it would be something that would eat away at me... I think I certainly would be able to live with it.

If you've ever done something you love and go do something you like, it's like chewing on sawdust.

I think about all of the freaking talent shows I've tried out for in my life, and I'm so glad I didn't make any of them.

‎"Those who give up dreams, do injury to their own hearts and cannot possibly enjoy a profound sense of fulfillment in the end.

Almost all men are over anxious. No sooner do they enter the world than they lose that taste for natural and simple pleasures so remarkable in early life. Every hour do they ask themselves what progress they have made in the pursuit of wealth or honor and on they go as their fathers went before them till weary and sick at heart they look back with a sigh of regret to the golden time of their childhood.

The best recipe for happiness and contentment I've seen is this: dig a big hole in the garden of your thoughts and put into it all your disillusions, disappointments, regrets, worries, troubles, doubts, and fears. Cover well with the earth of fruitfulness. Water it from the well of contentment. Sow on top the seeds of hope, courage, strength, patience, and love. Then when the time for gathering comes, may your harvest be a rich and fruitful one.

In happy ignorance, I sighed for a world I did not know, where I hoped to find every pleasure and enjoyment which my heart could desire; and now, on my return from that wide world... how many disappointed hopes and unsuccessful plans have I brought back!

I think your heart dances to the beat of your own drum, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.

I got my heart's desire, and there my troubles began.

I put my heart, soul and tears into the game and this is what I get. I don't know what to do. My wife can't sleep at night. I hold my daughter all night. I am ashamed I played cricket.

I have to say that although it broke my heart, I was, and still am, glad I was there.

You may win your heart's desire, but in the end you're cheated of it by death.

And in vain does the dreamer rummage about in his old dreams, raking them over as though they were a heap of cinders, looking into these cinders for some spark, however tiny, to fan it into a flame so as to warm his chilled blood by it and revive in it all that he held so dear before, all that touched his heart, that made his blood course through his veins, that drew tears from his eyes, and that so splendidly deceived him!