Vocations which we wanted to pursue, but didn’t, bleed, like colors, on the whole of our existence.

— Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850), novelist. Cited by A.Word.A.Day’s Thought for Today on May 20, 2026. The image is precise: it’s not regret as a wound — it’s regret as a slow watercolor bleed across everything else you do.