I can usually find my own way out of whatever dicey literary or linguistic situations I wander into, but I have to work much harder at the science.

The inability to experience regret is one of the diagnostic characteristics of sociopaths.

First, philosophy concerns itself with all kinds of issues that don't get much airtime in day-to-day life. What's the nature of reality? Can we ever truly know anything, and if so, how? What does it mean to be a moral agent? And while we're at it, is there any such thing as agency anyway?

I had drunk our great cultural Kool-Aid about regret, which is that lamenting things that occurred in the past is an absolute waste of time, that we should always look forward and not backward, and that one of the noblest and best things we can do is strive to live a life free of regrets.

The kinds of things that we can make mistakes about are essentially unlimited in number.

doubt is a skill. credulity ,by contrast, appears to be something very like an instinct

If you want to live a life free of regret, there is an option open to you. It's called a lobotomy.