Quotations about:
    penitence


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So up I got in anger,
And took a book I had,
And put a ribbon on my hair
To please a passing lad.
And, “One thing there’s no getting by —
I’ve been a wicked girl.” said I;
“But if I can’t be sorry, why,
I might as well be glad!”

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
“The Penitent”, st. 3, A Few Figs from Thistles (1921)
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Added on 29-Feb-24 | Last updated 29-Feb-24
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ACCOUNTABILITY, n. The mother of caution.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Accountability,” The Cynic’s Word Book (1906)
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Included in The Devil's Dictionary (1911).

Originally published in his "Cynic's Word Book" column in the New York American (1904-07-09) and "Cynic's Dictionary" column in the San Francisco Examiner (1904-07-17) as "the mother of remorse and great first cause of penitence."
 
Added on 25-Sep-23 | Last updated 26-Sep-23
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From a wretched deed there is sometimes a good outcome, making penance even more unlikely than usual.

Mignon McLaughlin (1913-1983) American journalist and author
The Neurotic’s Notebook, ch. 5 (1963)
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Added on 4-Oct-22 | Last updated 4-Oct-22
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The allotted function of art is not, as is often assumed, to put across ideas, to propagate thoughts, to serve as an example. The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good.

Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) Russian film director, screenwriter, film theorist [Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский]
Sculpting in Time (1986) [tr. Hunter-Blair]
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Added on 12-Sep-22 | Last updated 12-Sep-22
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You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.

Mary Oliver (1935-2019) American poet
“Wild Geese,” Dream Work (1986)
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Added on 10-Mar-20 | Last updated 10-Mar-20
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The man of business goes on Sunday to the church with the regularity of the village blacksmith, there to renounce and abjure before his God the line of conduct which he intends to pursue with all his might during the following week.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and critic
Fabian Essays in Socialism, “The Basis of Socialism: Economic” (1889)
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Added on 20-Jan-17 | Last updated 20-Jan-17
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King David and King Solomon
Led merry merry lives,
With many, many lady friends,
And many many wives;
But when old age crept over them —
With many, many qualms! —
King Solomon wrote the Proverbs
And King David wrote the Psalms.

James Ball Naylor (1860-1945) American physician, writer, poet, politician
“King David and King Solomon” (1935)
 
Added on 5-Jan-17 | Last updated 5-Jan-17
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If you derive pleasure from the good which you have performed and you grieve for the evil which you have committed, you are a true believer.

Muhammad (570-632) Arabian merchant, prophet, founder of Islam [Mohammed]
The Sayings of Muhammed, #67 [tr. Al-Suhrawardy (1941)]
 
Added on 1-Mar-16 | Last updated 1-Mar-16
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You always said people don’t do what they believe in,
they just do what’s most convenient, then they repent.

Bob Dylan (b. 1941) American singer, songwriter
“Brownsville Girl,” Knocked Out Loaded (1986)
 
Added on 11-May-15 | Last updated 11-May-15
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No sin is so light that it may be overlooked; no sin is so heavy that it may not be repented of.

Moses ibn Ezra (c. 1055 - after 1138) Spanish Jewish philosopher, linguist, rabbi, poet
(Attributed)
 
Added on 23-May-14 | Last updated 23-May-14
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The best way I kno ov tew repent of enny thing is tew do better next time.

[The best way I know of to repent of anything is to do better next time.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Everybody’s Friend, Or; Josh Billing’s Encyclopedia and Proverbial Philosophy of Wit and Humor, ch. 139 “Affurisms: Hooks & Eyes” (1874)
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Variant:

The best way I know to REPENT of anything is not to do it again and to do better next time.
[H. Montague, ed., Wit and Wisdom of Josh Billings (1913)]

 
Added on 23-Apr-13 | Last updated 8-Feb-24
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