Could Have Been Quotes

• Tragedy is the difference between what is and what could have been.

  Abba Eban

  Differences, Tragedy, Has Beens

  16 Copy quote

• Our suffering is caused by holding on to how things might have been, should have been, could have been.

  Stephen Levine

  Should Have, Suffering, Might

  Stephen Levine, Ondrea Levine (2012). “Who Dies?: An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying”, p.3, Anchor

  42 Copy quote

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• Don't waste time thinking about what could have been when you could be thinking about what could be.

  Christopher Jones

  Thinking, Waste, Wasting Time

  4 Copy quote

• You really can't worry about stuff you can't control... You need to focus on getting where you need to be and not worry about what could have been and what should have been.

  Robbie Lawler

  Should Have, Mma, Worry

  26 Copy quote

• You know what the true definition of hell is? It's when you die, you get to meet the person you could have been.

  Frank Mir

  Death, Sports, Mma

  82 Copy quote

• History is a novel that has been lived, a novel is history that could have been.

  Edmond de Goncourt

  Novel, Has Beens

  4 Copy quote

• It's amazing the things you realize
  when you lose someone:
  you get mad at yourself for not
  saying the things you could've a million times,
  you take for granted the days
  spent doing nothing when
  you could have been with them.
  Anyone can be taken,
  at any time in our lives,
  but we always wait until they're gone to say
  the things we never had the courage to before.

  Melody Carlson

  Taken, Mad, Waiting

  4 Copy quote

• The word 'happiness' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced and contrasted and compared to sadness. In comparing how an experience could have been worse we develop gratitude and happiness, while if we compare it how it could have been better we develop bitterness and sadness.

  Carl Jung

  Gratitude, Sadness, Bitterness

  7 Copy quote

• It could have been like a fairy tale. But fairy tales aren't real. Things don't work like that. There's a price for everything.

  Maureen Johnson

  Real, Fairy Tale, Tales

  3 Copy quote

• We could have been happy. I know that, and it is perhaps the hardest thing to know.

  Ally Condie

  Lonely, Hardest, Knows

  Ally Condie (2011). “Matched”, p.217, Penguin

  5 Copy quote

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• I could have been a great many things.

  Louisa May Alcott

  Has Beens

  7 Copy quote

• Sometimes you have to look into a mirror and look at the worst you could have been if you're ever going to know the best you were meant to be.

  Christopher Plummer

  Mirrors, Looks, Were Meant To Be

  20 Copy quote

• History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided.

  Konrad Adenauer

  Government, History, Historical

  63 Copy quote

• We throw away what we could have been and waste our opportunities. We each have a purpose, a destiny, and to realize it, we must reach beyond what we think we are capable of.

  Colleen Houck

  Opportunity, Destiny, Thinking

  3 Copy quote

• Most failures could have been converted into successes if someone had held on another minute or made more effort.

  Napoleon Hill

  Effort, Made, Minutes

  Napoleon Hill (1997). “Napoleon Hill's Positive Action Plan: 365 Meditations For Making Each Day a Success”, p.89, Penguin

  10 Copy quote

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• Forgiveness is not an occasional act. It is a permanent attitude. That which I was not but could have been. That which I would have done but did not do. Can I find the fortitude to remember in truth,to understand, to submit, to forgive and to be free to move on in time?

  Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Forgiveness, Attitude, Moving

  7 Copy quote

• Don’t think about it. Don’t think about what could have been. It’s too unbearable.

  Sophie Kinsella

  Thinking, Unbearable, Has Beens

  4 Copy quote

• As a player leaving early, you always look back and wonder what could have been. But you have to be happy with your decisions, because you ultimately have to live with them.

  Gilbert Arenas

  Player, Decision, Leaving

  3 Copy quote

• Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Forgiveness, Wise, Giving Up

  FaceBook post by Oprah Winfrey from Oct 29, 2011

  10 Copy quote

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• Take stock of your thoughts and behavior. Each night ask yourself, when were you negative when you could have been positive? When did you withhold love when you might have given it? When did you play a neurotic game instead of behaving in a powerful way? Use this process to self-correct.

  Marianne Williamson

  Powerful, Night, Self

  "10 Ways to Stay Spiritually Connected" by Marianne Williamson, www.oprah.com. May 2010.

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• What happened to you could have been worse - it could have happened to me.

  Ashleigh Brilliant

  Happened, Has Beens

  17 Copy quote

• It was not his habit to dwell on what could have been, but what could never be.

  Alan Paton

  Habit, Has Beens

  3 Copy quote

• This is a sad, regrettable day that all of us wish could have been avoided.

  Gary Bettman

  Nhl, Wish, Avoided

  "NHL cancel remainder of the season". www.cnn.com. February 16, 2005.

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• I honestly didn't even know who the coach was when I was coming to New York. I just wanted to win a championship; I didn't even know who was coaching. I didn't care. It could have been Aunt Jemima. They could have had the syrup coaching. I was coming here regardless. I just wanted to win a championship here.

  Metta World Peace

  New York, Aunt, Winning

  47 Copy quote

• There is a very good chance I could have been a screw-up for the rest of my life.

  Brandon Thomas

  Screw Ups, Chance, Very Good

  3 Copy quote