"I regret the whole worlds that will never come into existence, the children, the grandchildren, all the human possibilities that never were and never will be"
About this Quote
Gallagher, as a writer often associated with family and marriage politics, is also making a moral bid. The subtext is not simply sorrow; it’s an argument about responsibility. By cataloging "children, the grandchildren", she turns private regret into a generational ledger, implying that certain choices (personal, cultural, political) don’t just end one story; they cancel sequels. That’s why the sentence keeps multiplying outward, refusing to stop at the self. It’s structured like a wave: the loss expands, then expands again, until it becomes cosmic.
The line also courts discomfort. "Human possibilities" is a deliberately broad term, inviting the reader to project whatever they value - love, genius, redemption - into the void. That open-endedness is the rhetorical trick: it recruits imagination to do the mourning, and in doing so, nudges the reader toward a particular ethical conclusion without naming it outright.
Quote Details
| Topic | Mortality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gallagher, Maggie. (n.d.). I regret the whole worlds that will never come into existence, the children, the grandchildren, all the human possibilities that never were and never will be. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-regret-the-whole-worlds-that-will-never-come-88162/
Chicago Style
Gallagher, Maggie. "I regret the whole worlds that will never come into existence, the children, the grandchildren, all the human possibilities that never were and never will be." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-regret-the-whole-worlds-that-will-never-come-88162/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I regret the whole worlds that will never come into existence, the children, the grandchildren, all the human possibilities that never were and never will be." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-regret-the-whole-worlds-that-will-never-come-88162/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.
