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Failure & regret

What disappointment has stayed with you longest?

367 answers answered between 1995 and 2026 one of 25 in The Q&A

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The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

This exact question recurs in The Guardian's institutional Q&A pool.

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Public figures who have answered a question like this elsewhere. Quoted from the source shown, not written for FLAPSS.

Read by field Everyone Science and medicine 2 Arts and letters 309 Politics and public life 26 Business and finance 10 Sport 19
Read by age Any age Before thirty 16 In their thirties 58 In their forties 82 In their fifties 81 In their sixties 73 Seventy and beyond 55
Order Earliest first Most recent Surprise me
George H. W. Bush 41st President of the United States, 1989–1993
When I lost a race for the United States Senate, I thought the world was going to end for me politically, and 18 years later I was elected President of the United States. The biggest disappointment was that I wasn't able to communicate properly to the American people — with the proper conviction and the proper ability — where the country really stood. The pessimists, the naysayers, the change-wanters overwhelmed me, and I wasn't good enough. I wasn't articulate enough to have the country understand that we weren't in a recession, that we were in a rather booming economy in the last half of my presidency. That was a personal shortcoming, a failure on my path.
Recorded Academy of Achievement interview, Williamsburg, Virginia, 2 June 1995 source ↗
Jesse Jackson American minister, activist and politician
Many have fought for and even lost their lives to end segregation, to win the right to vote. It disappoints me to now have to cajole people to register and to vote.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 13 April 2012 source ↗
Joan Bakewell English journalist, television presenter and politician
Not being on Morecambe & Wise.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 October 2013 source ↗
Hillary Clinton Former U.S. Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee
Losing is my biggest regret, and losing to someone who was not qualified and did not have the experience or the temperament to be president of the United States. That is my biggest regret.
Recorded Tamara Keith, NPR interview about What Happened, 12 September 2017 source ↗
Kellie Maloney Retired boxing manager, promoter and politician
Not being truthful to everyone from an earlier age.
Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 August 2024 source ↗

1 answer from members

Not being able to start my own company

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