“Though true repentance be never too late, yet late repentance is seldom true.”

— Thomas Brooks

Quotes from secondary sources, Smooth Stones Taken From Ancient Brooks, 1860

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Thomas Brooks 74

English Puritan 1608–1680

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“True (quoth Ales) thinges doone can not be vndoone,
Be they done in due tyme, to late, or to soone,
But better late than neuer to repent this,
To late (quoth my aunt) this repentance showd is,
Whan the stéede is stolne shut the stable durre.”

John Heywood (1497–1580) English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs

True, said Ales, things done can not be undone,
Be they done in due time, too late, or too soon,
But better late than never to repent this,
To late, said my aunt, this repentance shown is,
When the steed is stolen shut the stable door.
Part I, chapter 10
"Better late than never" is recorded earlier by Livy as Potius sero quam numquam. (book IV, sec. 23).
Proverbs (1546)

“5545. When all is gone, Repentance comes too late.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

“6185. Marry in Haste, and Repent at Leisure;
It's good to marry late, or never.”

Thomas Fuller (writer) (1654–1734) British physician, preacher, and intellectual

Compare Poor Richard's Almanack (1734) : Marry'd in Haste, we oft repent at Leisure.
Introductio ad prudentiam: Part II (1727), Gnomologia (1732)

“True repentance involves a change of heart and not just a change of behavior.”

Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

“It's never too late to fix things with people you love, Massie. Kendra said.

That's true. William agreed.”

Lisi Harrison (1970) Canadian writer

Source: Boys "R" Us

“Don't punish people who repent; heal them. I don't believe that private sin requires public rebuke or removal from office if repentance is taking place. However, when no evidence of true repentance exists, then discipline is in order.”

Ted Haggard (1956) American minister

[Haggard, Ted, The Life Giving Church, Regal Books, Expanded edition (May 2001), p. 112, ISBN 0830726594]

“To sigh, yet not recede; to grieve, yet not repent.”

George Crabbe (1754–1832) English poet, surgeon, and clergyman

Book iii, "Boys at School". Compare: To sigh, yet feel no pain", Thomas Moore The Blue Stocking.
Tales of the Hall (1819)

“Or is there no such thing as 'too late'? Is there only 'late' and is 'late' always better than 'never'? I don't know.”

Bernhard Schlink book The Reader

Source: The Reader

“You, mad to expect repentance,
Tear your robe all you want;
I will never repent!”

Abu Nuwas (762–814) Arabic poet

Diwan, 11–12.

“Never yet was a springtime,
Late though lingered the snow,
That the sap stirred not at the whisper
Of the southwind, sweet and low;
Never yet was a springtime
When the buds forgot to blow.”

Margaret Elizabeth Sangster (1838–1912) American poet, author, journalist, editor

Awakening.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)