Are there any suitable phrases/idioms to describe that I should have done a certain thing and I regret not having done it?
For example, I have one regret from my school days, which is that I didn't visit the historical museum near our school building. As I found out recently that the museum has been closed down several months ago, I completely missed the opportunity to go there during my life.
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3Why don't you want to use regret? You could simply say "I wish I had visited that museum while I had the chance".– Kate BuntingCommented Oct 15, 2022 at 18:04
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1There are many synonyms for regret with different connotations, depending on how bad your actions were, how much you regret, how sorry you are, etc.– Stuart FCommented Oct 16, 2022 at 11:33
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4 Answers
Act in haste repent at leisure
No use crying over spilled milk
A stitch in time saves nine
The road not taken
If only I didn't know now what I didn't know then
Look before you leap
Oh what might have been
Youth is wasted on the young
Where have all the years gone
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Or "If only I knew now what I didn't know then?" Different from some song lyrics? Commented Oct 23, 2022 at 1:11
Perhaps you could use one or both of these two phrases, "If I only knew then what I know now" and/or "Alas, that ship has sailed". The first idiom could be part of a sentence that includes details specific to the situation you wish to describe or it could stand on its own afterward. Both fit the bill as far as expressing a desire to have done something differently as well as regret resulting from the knowledge that those decisions/actions are final in that there will never be an opportunity to amend or reverse them.
How about:
hindsight is 20/20
a case of I-told-you-so
Check it in other Germanic languages and try to find a hint.
Take the German:
"Hinterher ist man immer schlauer."
Gives:
"Hindsight is easier than foresight."
(the other "Hindsight is always 20/20" was already said in the other answer)
You could look at it from the other side. Ponder whether it is so bad at all, at least, you found out about it now and regret not to have been there. Would be worse if you did not care anyway.
You could change the broader wording of the Goethe proverb
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."
And make it: "Willing is not enough; we must know. (Goethe must have missed something)."
as a whole phrase, with the brackets. Since that Goethe idiom is famous, this change of the idiom might be understood by at least a good share, and the rest will guess it.
Or, to make it clearer to a reader who does not know the Goethe proverb by heart:
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. But one thing Goethe must have been missing: willing is not enough; we must know."
