“To have never done anything but make the eighteenth part of a pin, is a sorry account for a human being to give of his existence.”

— Jean-Baptiste Say

Source: A Treatise On Political Economy (Fourth Edition) (1832), Book I, On Production, Chapter VIII, p. 98 (See also: Adam Smith)

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Jean-Baptiste Say 72

French economist and businessman 1767–1832

Paul Rosenfels (1909–1985) American sociologist

12. Prescription for Survival
Love and Power: The Psychology of Interpersonal Creativity (1966)

“I'm sorry I didn’t understand more. I'm not sorry for any of my intentions. I'm not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I have never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman. So that's not the reputation I've had since I was in high school, for God's sake.”

Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Regarding allegations that he inappropriately violated women's space

Quoted in * 2019-04-05

Biden: 'I'm not sorry for anything that I have ever done'

Brett Samuels

The Hill

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/437582-biden-im-not-sorry-for-anything-that-i-have-ever-done
2010s, 2019

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry that Limbaugh is one sorry excuse for a human being.”

Alan Grayson (1958) American politician

AllHeadlineNews.com http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014328782 –March 4, 2009.
2009, Regarding Rush Limbaugh

“People who pin their faith to a catchword never feel the necessity of understanding anything.”

Agnes Repplier (1855–1950) American essayist

in "Women and War" (May 1915)

“(Sylvia) Being a monopoly means never having to say you're sorry.”

Nicole Hollander (1939) Cartoonist

Source: Sylvia cartoon strip, p.170

“As long as you are convinced you have never done anything, you can never do anything.”

Malcolm X (1925–1965) American human rights activist

“For human beings, being children, have the childish wilfulness and the childish secrecy. And they never have from the beginning of the world done what the wise men have seen to be inevitable.”

G. K. Chesterton book The Napoleon of Notting Hill

Opening lines
The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904)
Context: The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children’s games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games to which it is most attached is called “Keep to-morrow dark,” and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) “Cheat the Prophet.” The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. They then go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.
For human beings, being children, have the childish wilfulness and the childish secrecy. And they never have from the beginning of the world done what the wise men have seen to be inevitable.