Quotes about apology

A collection of quotes on the topic of apology, doing, people, likeness.

Quotes about apology

“I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.”

John Wayne (1907–1979) American film actor

People, World, Education, Thinking

“You know something? There's been a lot of rumors lately about a certain band called Queen. The rumors are that... The rumors are that we're gonna split up. What do you think? [audience replies "No!"] [Pointing to his posterior] They're talking from here! [audience replies "Yes"!] My apologies, but I say what I want. You know what I mean? So forget those rumors. We’re gonna stay together until we fucking well die, I’m sure of it. I keep — I must tell you — I keep wanting to leave, but they won’t let me. Also, I suppose we’re not... We're not bad for four aging queens, are we? Really, what do you think?”

Freddie Mercury (1946–1991) British singer, songwriter and record producer

"Queen: Live at Wembley" (1986), shortly before performing "Who Wants To Live Forever." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GNJ1SQpxFI

Forgetting, Bad luck, Thinking, Age

“If you even dream of beating me, you'd better wake up and apologize.”

Muhammad Ali (1942–2016) African American boxer, philanthropist and activist

Dreams

“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for truth.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Truth, Feeling

“I would apologize for my rudeness, if I had any manners. Happily, I don't.”

Tamora Pierce book Emperor Mage

Source: Emperor Mage

“What about a compromise? I’ll kill them first, and if it turns out they were friendly, I’ll apologize.”

Rick Riordan book The Lost Hero

Source: The Lost Hero

“Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths.”

Lois Wyse (1926–2007) American advertising executive

For women, Women, Men

“It is better to ask for an apology than to ask for permission.”

Christopher Paolini book Eragon

Variant: I always say, better ask forgiveness than permission.
Source: Eragon

“Don't ask permission. If it does not work, you can apologize later.”

Paulo Coelho (1947) Brazilian lyricist and novelist

“Never apologize for showing feeling, my friend. Remember that when you do so, you apologize for truth.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Part 1, Chapter 13; sometimes paraphrased: "Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth."
Books, Coningsby (1844), Contarini Fleming (1832)

Truth, Feeling

“Before I could figure out how to apologize for being such an idiot, she tackled me with a hug, then pulled away just as quickly. "I'm glad you're not a guinea pig."
"Me, too." I hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt.”

Rick Riordan book The Sea of Monsters

Source: The Sea of Monsters

Hope

“There isn’t time--so brief is life--for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving--and but an instant, so to speak, for that.”

Mark Twain (1835–1910) American author and humorist

Letter to Clara Spaulding (20 August 1886)

Love, Life, Time

“Never apologize, mister, it’s a sign of weakness.”

John Wayne (1907–1979) American film actor

“I must apologize for calling so late," said he, "and I must further beg you to be so unconventional as to allow me to leave your house presently by scrambling over your back garden wall.”

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) Scottish physician and author

Source: Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I

Housing

“We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.”

Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America

2009, First Inaugural Address (January 2009)

Life, War, World, Peace

“I apologize in my capacity as leader of the NP to the millions who suffered wrenching disruption of forced removals; who suffered the shame of being arrested for pass law offences; who over the decades suffered the indignities and humiliation of racial discrimination.”

F. W. de Klerk (1936) South African politician

Testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission at a special hearing in Cape Town https://web.archive.org/web/20050119042614/http://www.doj.gov.za:80/trc/media/1997/9705/s970514a.htm (May 1997) <br class="br">1990s, 1997

Law, Suffering

“I am a libertine, but I am not a criminal nor a murderer, and since I am compelled to set my apology alongside my vindication, I shall therefore say that it might well be possible that those who condemn me as unjustly as I have been might themselves be unable to offset the infamies by good works as clearly established as those I can contrast to my errors. I am a libertine, but three families residing in your area have for five years lived off my charity, and I have saved them from the farthest depths of poverty. I am a libertine, but I have saved a deserter from death, a deserter abandoned by his entire regiment and by his colonel. I am a libertine, but at Evry, with your whole family looking on, I saved a child—at the risk of my life—who was on the verge of being crushed beneath the wheels of a runaway horse-drawn cart, by snatching the child from beneath it. I am a libertine, but I have never compromised my wife’s health. Nor have I been guilty of the other kinds of libertinage so often fatal to children’s fortunes: have I ruined them by gambling or by other expenses that might have deprived them of, or even by one day foreshortened, their inheritance? Have I managed my own fortune badly, as long as I have had a say in the matter? In a word, did I in my youth herald a heart capable of the atrocities of which I today stand accused?… How therefore do you presume that, from so innocent a childhood and youth, I have suddenly arrived at the ultimate of premeditated horror? No, you do not believe it. And yet you who today tyrannize me so cruelly, you do not believe it either: your vengeance has beguiled your mind, you have proceeded blindly to tyrannize, but your heart knows mine, it judges it more fairly, and it knows full well it is innocent.”

Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) French novelist and philosopher

This passage comes from a letter addressed to his wife. It was written during his imprisonment at the Bastille.
"L’Aigle, Mademoiselle…"

Life, Death, Children, Health

“Mrs. Phillis: Your favour of the 26th of October did not reach my hands 'till the middle of December. Time enough, you will say, to have given an answer ere this. Granted. But a variety of important occurrences, continually interposing to distract the mind and withdraw the attention, I hope will apologize for the delay, and plead my excuse for the seeming, but not real neglect.”

George Washington (1732–1799) first President of the United States

1770s, Letter to Phyllis Wheatley (1776)

Hope, Time

“"Don't worry. I can teach you every word that you need to know right now. One of them is fiesta.
"What does that mean?"
"It means 'party' Another important word is juerga.
"What does that word mean? […] Magnus, does that word also mean 'party?'"
"I would apologize, except that I feel no regret at all."”

Cassandra Clare The Bane Chronicles

Magnus Bane and Ragnor Fell in 1791, p. 9.
The Bane Chronicles, What Really Happened in Peru (2013)

Feeling

“It is true that there are men who, on the approach of severe pain, hear the very opposite call of command, and never appear more proud, more martial, or more happy than when the storm is brewing; indeed, pain itself provides them with their supreme moments! These are the heroic men, the great pain-bringers of mankind: those few and rare ones who need just the same apology as pain generally — and verily, it should not be denied them. They are forces of the greatest importance for preserving and advancing the species, be it only because they are opposed to smug ease, and do not conceal their disgust at this kind of happiness.”

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German philosopher, poet, composer, cultural critic, and classical philologist

Sec. 318
The Gay Science (1882)

Men, Pain, Appearance, Happiness

“That is an apology, not an explanation; and apologies only account for that which they do not alter.”

Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881) British Conservative politician, writer, aristocrat and Prime Minister

Source: Speech http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1871/jul/28/parliament-order-of-business in the House of Commons (28 July 1871).

“Our habit of constantly and zealously answering to any rabble has already done us a lot of harm and will do much more. … We do not have to apologize for anything. We are a people as all other peoples; we do not have any intentions to be better than the rest. As one of the first conditions for equality we demand the right to have our own villains, exactly as other people have them. … We do not have to account to anybody, we are not to sit for anybody's examination and nobody is old enough to call on us to answer. We came before them and will leave after them. We are what we are, we are good for ourselves, we will not change, nor do we want to.”

Ze'ev Jabotinsky (1880–1940) Jewish leader

Instead of Excessive Apology (1911).

People, Change

“No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.”

Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States

Seventh and Last Joint Debate with Steven Douglas, at Alton, Illinois (15 October 1858)
1850s, Lincoln–Douglas debates (1858)
Context: Now, I have upon all occasions declared as strongly as Judge Douglas against the disposition to interfere with the existing institution of slavery. You hear me read it from the same speech from which he takes garbled extracts for the purpose of proving upon me a disposition to interfere with the institution of slavery, and establish a perfect social and political equality between negroes and white people. Allow me while upon this subject briefly to present one other extract from a speech of mine, more than a year ago, at Springfield, in discussing this very same question, soon after Judge Douglas took his ground that negroes were not included in the Declaration of Independence: I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal — equal in "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were then actually enjoying that equality, or yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to all, constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere... That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles — right and wrong — throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.

Men, People

“Pay no mind to those that look to bring you down. And. NEVER. Apologize for being you.”

Дэн Рейнольдс (1987)

“There was a national apology for slavery. It was called the Civil War where 700,000 Americans died.”

Ben Shapiro (1984) American journalist and attorney

2019-08-26
The Ben Shapiro Show
The Daily Wire, quoted in * 2019-08-26
Ben Shapiro: “There was a national apology for slavery. It was called the Civil War”
Media Matters for America
https://www.mediamatters.org/ben-shapiro/ben-shapiro-there-was-national-apology-slavery-it-was-called-civil-war
2019-09-02
2019

War

“This new patriarch Fox said one day to a justice of peace, before a large assembly of people. "Friend, take care what thou dost; God will soon punish thee for persecuting his saints." This magistrate, being one who besotted himself every day with bad beer and brandy, died of apoplexy two days after; just as he had signed a mittimus for imprisoning some Quakers. The sudden death of this justice was not ascribed to his intemperance; but was universally looked upon as the effect of the holy man's predictions; so that this accident made more Quakers than a thousand sermons and as many shaking fits would have done. Cromwell, finding them increase daily, was willing to bring them over to his party, and for that purpose tried bribery; however, he found them incorruptible, which made him one day declare that this was the only religion he had ever met with that could resist the charms of gold.
The Quakers suffered several persecutions under Charles II; not upon a religious account, but for refusing to pay the tithes, for "theeing" and "thouing" the magistrates, and for refusing to take the oaths enacted by the laws.
At length Robert Barclay, a native of Scotland, presented to the king, in 1675, his "Apology for the Quakers"; a work as well drawn up as the subject could possibly admit. The dedication to Charles II, instead of being filled with mean, flattering encomiums, abounds with bold truths and the wisest counsels. "Thou hast tasted," says he to the king, at the close of his "Epistle Dedicatory," "of prosperity and adversity: thou hast been driven out of the country over which thou now reignest, and from the throne on which thou sittest: thou hast groaned beneath the yoke of oppression; therefore hast thou reason to know how hateful the oppressor is both to God and man. If, after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord, with all thy heart; but forget Him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give thyself up to follow lust and vanity, surely great will be thy guilt, and bitter thy condemnation. Instead of listening to the flatterers about thee, hearken only to the voice that is within thee, which never flatters. I am thy faithful friend and servant, Robert Barclay."”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

The most surprising circumstance is that this letter, though written by an obscure person, was so happy in its effect as to put a stop to the persecution.
The History of the Quakers (1762)

God, Peace, Religion, Beer

“O Allah, I offer my apology to You for every hungry stomach and unclothed body, but I own nothing in this world except what is on my back and in my stomach.”

Uwais al-Qarani (594–657) Muslim saint

Biography of Uways al-Qarni https://islamqa.info/en/answers/125276/biography-of-uways-al-qarni-may-allah-have-mercy-on-him, Islam Q&A https://islamqa.info/en/about-us (03 July 2015)

World

“I will not apologize for who I am.
I will not apologize for what I need.
I will not apologize for what I want!”

movie Magnolia

“Never ruin an apology
with an excuse.”

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

“Life is short. Grudges are a waste of energy.
You are taking away from your own happiness. Apologize when you should and let go of what you can’t change.”

Stephie Pahlavi Zan

Happiness, Change, Life

“Do your best. That's all you can ask of yourself. If you did your best and things just didn't work out, you don't owe an apology to anyone. And you certainly don't need to feel 'bad' about it -- or, worse yet, guilty.”

Neale Donald Walsch (1943) American writer

Feeling

“Good people don’t make fewer mistakes, they’re just better at apologizing.”

Jonathan Safran Foer book Here I Am

Source: Here I Am

People

“Men explain things to me, still. And no man has ever apologized for explaining, wrongly, things that I know and they don't.”

Rebecca Solnit book Men Explain Things To Me

Source: Men Explain Things to Me

Men

“It is a good rule in life never to apologize. The right sort of people do not want apologies, and the wrong sort take a mean advantage of them.”

P.G. Wodehouse (1881–1975) English author

The Man Upstairs (1914)
Source: The Man Upstairs and Other Stories

Life, People

“He will apologize, or I'll give him a lesson in swordplay he will not like at all.”

Robin McKinley book The Hero and the Crown

Source: The Hero and the Crown

“It was one of the dullest speeches I ever heard. The Agee woman told us for three quarters of an hour how she came to write her beastly book, when a simple apology was all that was required.”

P.G. Wodehouse book The Girl in Blue

Source: The Girl in Blue (1970)

Books

“Never, ever regret or apologize for believing that when one man or one woman decides to risk addressing the world with truth, the world may stop what it is doing and hear. There is too much evidence to the contrary.”

Robert Fulghum (1937) American writer

Source: Maybe, Maybe Not

Truth, World

“Apologize, v. To lay the foundation for a future offense.”

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist

The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary

Future

“Maybe nobody has a right to tell anybody to shut up. Maybe this is how wars get started, because someone tells someone else to shut up, and then no one will apologize.”

Meg Cabot The Princess Diaries

Source: The Princess Diaries

War

“Friends are God's way of apologizing for your family.”

Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) American writer

Source: The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way

God, Family, Way

“Apologizing is like spring cleaning.”

Katherine Hannigan (1962) American artist and novelist

Source: Ida B. . . and Her Plans to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and (Possibly) Save the World

Spring

“And apologies, once postponed, become harder and harder to make, and finally impossible.”

Margaret Mitchell book Vom Winde verweht (1937 German edition)

Source: Gone with the Wind

“To my wonderful readers. Sorry about that apology for that last cliffhanger. I’ll try to avoid cliffhangers in this book. Well, except for maybe a few small ones… because I love you guys.”

Rick Riordan book The Blood of Olympus

Source: The Blood of Olympus

Love, Books, Guy

“Nothing heals the soul like chocolate… It's God's apology for broccoli.”

Richard Paul Evans (1962) American writer

Variant: Chocolate is God's apology for brocolli
Source: The Sunflower

God, Soul

“God's Final Message to His Creation:
'We apologize for the inconvenience.”

Douglas Adams book So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

Source: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

God

“I keep feeling like everyone wants me to apologize for something.”

Michael Thomas Ford (1968) American writer

Source: Suicide Notes

Feeling

“I'll be damned if I apologize for the choices I've made. They were hard decisions, but I had good reasons for making them.”

Christine Feehan American writer

Source: Oceans of Fire

Decision

“First, the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order." -Jace Wayland”

Cassandra Clare book City of Bones

Variant: It wouldn't be my move," Jace agreed. "First the candy and flowers, then the apology letters, then the ravenous demon hordes. In that order.
Source: City of Bones

Flowers

“No stories or explanations,' Finnikin had once told him. 'When it comes to women, straight into an apology and you will find the rest of your life bearable.”

Melina Marchetta (1965) Australian teen writer

Source: Froi of the Exiles

Life, Women

“Apologies mean nothing if you don't mean it.”

Laurie Halse Anderson (1961) American children's writer

Source: The Impossible Knife of Memory

“I’m not leaving,” Sam said, his eyes fixed on the boy he was holding. “Not until Disney Princess here apologizes, or his head comes off, one of the two.”

Rachel Caine (1962) American writer

Source: The Dead Girls' Dance

Boy, Princess

“The body apologizes to the soul for its errors, and the soul asks forgiveness for squatting in the body without invitation.”

Gregory Maguire book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Source: Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Error, Soul, Forgiveness

“My father, I never knew, except for this one time when he threw a ball and told me to go fetch it.

"Dad," I said. "Am I a dog?"

"Lydia," he said. "I apologize.”

Jaclyn Moriarty (1968) Australian writer

Source: The Year of Secret Assignments

Dogs, Time

“Friends are God's way of apologizing to us for our families”

Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) American playwright

Funny, For Bestfriend, God, Family

“Is it meaningless to apologize?

Never.”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

“You're a leader. It's your job to keep your passion hot. Do whatever you have to do, read whatever you have to read, go wherever you have to go to stay fired up. And don't apologize to anybody.”

Bill Hybels (1951) American writer

Source: Courageous Leadership

Passion, Reading

“Let’s admit, without apology, what we do to each other.”

Richard Siken (1967) American poet

“There was a lot of apologizing going on, but I realized that was how it was with people you cared about. You forgave each other and moved on.”

Richelle Mead Blood Promise

Source: Blood Promise

People

“Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with the seven-layer dip… And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."
Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing Soprano for a week.”

Rick Riordan book The Lightning Thief

Source: The Lightning Thief

Game, Singing

“Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only gift is a portion of thyself. Thou must bleed for me.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) American philosopher, essayist, and poet

Source: Gifts: an essay

“I guess I felt attached to my weakness. My pain and suffering too. Summer light, the smell of a breeze, the sound of cicadas - if I like these things, why should I apologize?”

Haruki Murakami book A Wild Sheep Chase

Source: A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (1982), Chapter 40, The Rat Who Wound the Clock

Pain, Light, Suffering, Summer

“I will not waste time on second thoughts. My life will not be an apology. It will be a statement.”

Andy Andrews (1959) author and corporate speaker

Source: The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success

Life, Time

“A great book is a homing device
For navigating paradise.

A good book somehow makes you care
About the comfort of a chair.

A bad book owes to many trees
A forest of apologies.”

J. Patrick Lewis (1942) American children's writer and poet

Books, Home, Tree

“I knit the afternoon away. I knit reasons for Elijah to come back. I knit apologies for Emma. I knit angry knots and slipped stitches for every mistake I ever made, and I knit wet, swollen stitches that look awful. I knit the sun down.”

Laurie Halse Anderson Wintergirls

Source: Wintergirls

Sun

“It seems strange that my life should end in such a terrible place, but for three years I had roses, and apologized to no one.”

Alan Moore V for Vendetta

Source: V for Vendetta

Life

“Too late to apologize, I've already forgiven you.”

Robin Hobb book Assassin's Apprentice

Variant: It's too late to apologize for I have already forgiven you." -FitzChivalry Farseer
Source: Assassin's Apprentice

“Read widely, and without apology. Read what you want to read, not what someone tells you you should read.”

Joyce Carol Oates (1938) American author

Reading

“This is me apologizing. I am a fool, a bird-brain, a liar and a horse-thief. I wouldn't touch a superlative again with an umbrella.”

Dorothy Parker (1893–1967) American poet, short story writer, critic and satirist

Fools, Bird, Horse

“I will not deny but that the best apology against false accusers is silence and sufferance, and honest deeds set against dishonest words.”

John Milton (1608–1674) English epic poet

Apology for Smectymnuus (1642)

Silence, Suffering, Falseness

“You just said you were sorry."

…

"I was only apologizing," he said stiffly, "for startling you. The applause was to compliment you on the improvement in your life-saving techniques since the last time you-”

Meg Cabot (1967) Novelist

Source: Abandon

Life, Time

“I apologize for Pam. I accidentally hit her in the head with a baseball when we were in fifth grade and knocked her out cold. She’s never been right since. (Tory)”

Sherrilyn Kenyon (1965) Novelist

Source: Acheron

“Only peons made excusses for themselves she taught me. Never apologize, never explain.”

Janet Fitch book White Oleander

Source: White Oleander

“You are not made of metaphors,
Not apologies, not excuses.”

Sarah Kay

“rainbows apologizing for angry skies”

Barbara Ann Kipfer (1954) American linguist and lexicographer

14,000 Things to Be Happy About

“Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.”

Elizabeth Gilbert book Eat, Pray, Love

Source: Eat, Pray, Love

Cry

“An apology is the superglue of life! It can repair just about anything!!”

Lynn Johnston (1947) Cartoonist

Life

“Regrets and apologies are all very well, but there's things that happen in a person's life that are so scorched in the memory and burned into the heart that there's no forgetting them. They're like brands.”

John Boyne (1971) Irish novelist, author of children's and youth fiction

Source: Mutiny on the Bounty

Life, Memory, Heart, Personality

“A moment of consideration often prevents a thousand apologies”

Kevin J. Anderson (1962) American science fiction author

“What's any artist, but the dregs of his work? the human shambles that follows it around. What's left of the man when the work's done but a shambles of apology.”

William Gaddis book The Recognitions

Source: The Recognitions

“success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis.” If”

Napoleon Hill book Think and Grow Rich

Think and Grow Rich
Variant: Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis.

Failure, Success

“Wizard Howl," said Wizard Suliman. "I must apologize for trying to bite you so often. In the normal way, I wouldn't dream of setting teeth in a fellow countryman.”

Diana Wynne Jones book Howl's Moving Castle

Source: Howl's Moving Castle

Dreams, Way

“Someday you'll have to show me how you did that," Asharak was saying. "I found the experience interesting. My horse had hysterics, however."
"My apologies to your horse.”

David Eddings book Queen of Sorcery

Source: Queen of Sorcery

Horse

“Dave couldn't remember the last time a grownup had apologized to him.”

Andrew Clements book No Talking

Source: No Talking

Time

“The truth is that nobody is owed an apology for anything. Apologies are lovely when they happen. But they change nothing. They do not reverse actions or correct damage. They are merely nice to hear.”

Augusten Burroughs (1965) American writer

Source: This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude & More. For Young and Old Alike.

Love, Truth, Change

“I won’t apologize for my past. A man is supposed to have experience.”
“From all indications, you’ve acquired enough for ten men.”

Lisa Kleypas (1964) American writer

Source: Devil in Winter

Men, Past