Je ne regrette rien. I regret nothing. We were talking about this last Sunday night. I do regret lying to parents or teachers on specific occasions perhaps, and I regret taking this or that when I wasn’t supposed to, but I don’t regret any potentially life-changing action taken or not taken. I don’t regret going to the school I did, the subjects I took, the university I went to, or the degrees I did there. I don’t wish I studied more or studied less; or travelled more or travelled less.
I think I should have regrets. (One of the implications of having no regrets is that, if given the chance, you’d live your life again in exactly the same way—and this cannot be right!) So, where are they? There’s a few possibilities: (1) I’m not yet old enough to be able to figure out what my regrets should be (i.e. not enough perspective); (2) I don’t take a chance on things I might regret; (3) I’m in denial.
There’s a good chance these are all true. Particularly (2): I do fear regret, and perhaps I do make the easy, safe life choices. Well, I guess we’ll see.