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Regrets are the natural property of grey hairs; and I enjoy, in common with all other men, at least my share of such inheritance.
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“Regrets are the natural property of grey hairs; and I enjoy, in common with all other men, at least my share of such inheritance.”

Charles Dickens

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Source
Martin Chuzzlewit
Date
1844
Local voice
Fictional character · Old Martin Chuzzlewit
Meaning

Meaning of “Regrets are the natural property of grey hairs;…”

Old Martin treats regret as an almost ordinary inheritance of age: living long enough produces memories of choices, estrangements and missed opportunities that cannot all be revisited without hindsight.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Martin Chuzzlewit, Chapter X, Project Gutenberg #968. Old Martin Chuzzlewit says that regrets are the natural property of grey hairs while speaking to Pecksniff during a deliberately strategic performance. The maxim remains fictional character speech shaped by manipulation and family conflict rather than direct Dickens autobiography or a clinical claim about aging.

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Speaker context

Why the local voice matters

Old Martin says this to Pecksniff in Chapter X as part of a strategically performed conversation inside the novel.

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DeepLifeLife AdviceLife LessonsRegretRelationshipThought-Provoking Quotes That Invite ReflectionTimePastPerspective
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Source identified
I knew it was much to be regretted, but still it was not to be helped.
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“I knew it was much to be regretted, but still it was not to be helped.”

Charles Dickens · Great Expectations · 1861
Voice: Fictional narrator · Pip
Meaning & context

Pip recognizes that his changed ambitions separated him from a simpler life he now sees could have been better, yet he also acknowledges that the lost path cannot simply be restored by wishing.

Source details

Great Expectations (1861), global Chapter XVII / Volume I Chapter XVII in the Chapman & Hall three-volume first book edition. Pip tells Biddy that the simpler life he might have led at the forge was “much to be regretted,” then admits that his ambitions make that lost alternative impossible to restore. Verified against the scan-backed Wikisource Chapter XVII transcription and cross-checked with Project Gutenberg #1400. This remains Pip’s retrospective fictional narration and dialogue, not Dickens autobiography.

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The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened.
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“The young have aspirations that never come to pass, the old have reminiscences of what never happened.”

Saki · Reginald · 1904
Voice: Fictional character · Reginald
Meaning & context

Reginald turns youth and old age into a comic contrast between unrealized hopes and memories reshaped by hindsight.

Source details

Reginald, represented by Project Gutenberg #2830. Reginald says this during a social conversation; it is satirical fictional dialogue from Saki’s recurring character, not a measured claim about age or memory.

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Adventures do occur, but not punctually.
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“Adventures do occur, but not punctually.”

E. M. Forster · A Passage to India · 1924
Meaning & context

The narrator notes that meaningful or unexpected experiences cannot be scheduled simply because a person has decided that a particular moment ought to become interesting.

Source details

A Passage to India, Project Gutenberg #61221. The narrator explains Mrs. Moore’s more patient response to disappointment after an outing fails to materialize on cue; the sentence belongs to fictional narration.

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The Paths of Glory lead but to the Grave.
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“The Paths of Glory lead but to the Grave.”

Thomas Gray · Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard · 1751
Meaning & context

Gray compresses the elegy’s meditation on mortality into the reminder that wealth, beauty, status and public achievement do not remove the common human endpoint of death.

Source details

An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (1751 first edition), represented by Project Gutenberg #15409. The capitalization follows the represented edition; the line is poetic reflection on mortality and social distinction.

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I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.
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“I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.”

William Shakespeare · Richard II · c. 1595
Voice: Fictional character · King Richard II
Meaning & context

Time ignored earlier becomes painfully visible later, when opportunities narrow and delay can no longer be recovered.

Source details

Richard II, Act V, Scene V in the represented 1921 Yale edition. Richard's 'I wasted time, and now doth time waste me' occurs in the prison soliloquy as he compares broken musical time with his ruined political life. The First Folio facsimile numbers the corresponding prison scene differently, so the Yale route is used to preserve this collection's modern scene numbering.

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