If I said I was madly in love with you, I'd be lying and what's more, you'd know it.
Margaret MitchellRead
You're like the thief who isn't the least bit sorry he stole, but is terribly, terribly sorry he's going to jail. - Rhett Butler
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the difference between feeling remorse for one's actions versus feeling regret for the consequences.
In this quote, Rhett Butler illustrates a common human tendency where individuals may not feel guilty for their wrongdoing but instead feel sorry for the repercussions they face. It speaks to a lack of genuine moral accountability, suggesting that true remorse should involve reflection on the harm caused to others rather than just concern for personal punishment.
Themes
RemorseConsequencesGuiltActionsAccountability
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about ethical behavior in business.
More from Margaret Mitchell
All quotes βIt's a curse - this not wanting to look on naked realities. Until the war, life was never more real to me than a shadow show on a curtain. And I preferred it so. I do not like the outlines of things to be too sharp. I like them gently blurred, a little hazy.
Margaret MitchellRead
Well, my dear, take heart. Some day, I will kiss you and you will like it. But not now, so I beg you not to be too impatient.
Margaret MitchellRead
men are so conceited theyβll believe anything that flatters them
Margaret MitchellRead
Oh, why was he so handsomely blond, so courteously aloof, so maddeningly boring with his talk about Europe and books and music and poetry and things that interested her not at all - and yet so desirable?
Margaret MitchellRead
All really nice girls wonder when men don't try to kiss them. They know they shouldn't want them to and they know they must act insulted if they do, but just the same, they wish the men would try.
Margaret MitchellRead
Similar quotes
It is the root of all religion that a man knows that he is nothing in order to thank God that he is something.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
The media have just buried the last yuppie, a pathetic creature who had not heard the news that the great pendulum of public consciousness has just swung from Greed to Compassion and from Tex-Mex to meatballs
Barbara EhrenreichRead
Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.
PlatoRead
Gnostic politics is self-defeating in so far as its disregard for the structure of reality leads to continuous warfare.
Eric VoegelinRead
But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be.
Alan WattsRead
Heroes rarely look the way we draw them in our minds: attractive, imposing figures with rippling muscles and strong chins. More times than not they are humble beings, small and flawed. It is only their spirits that are beautiful and strong.
Richard Paul EvansRead