Do you have an equivalent...

[ostaralight]

... of this saying in English?

"Better do and regret rather than not do and regret"

Comments

[eleyne_de_c]

We have:

"Better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all"

[ostaralight]

Ah, I see. It's kinda a more specified variant. Also, it implies participation of outside forces, which may have caused loosing that love, while in my question it was about person's own actions.
But that's still a rather close option.

[janetlin]

We have the mentality, but not really a specific phrase, other than the loved and lost one. Which isn't quite the same thing, but close.

[ostaralight]

Yep, that phrase I quoted was the one for any case at all, not just love, so it's probably a more general case.

What do you mean when you say "We have the mentality" - the general idea in society, or more specific combination of attitudes?

[janetlin]

Just the "go for it" / "you'll never know unless you try" line of thinking. It meshes nicely with the "get out there and take on the world" attitude of America/Americans.

[cat_i_th_adage]

Um... "It is easier to ask forgiveness than permission?"

Not quite the same, dammit. Let me think.

[neongraal]

That was the one I was thinking of too, but I agree not quite the same.

[ostaralight]

Yup, it's about attitude of others, and mine was about attitude of the person who does that - whatever they do;-)

[ostaralight]

Aha, here is the other option for mine, yup. It has similar meaning, but with one difference: it describes situation which affects someone else, and it's from them the acting subject needs to get either permission or forgiveness. In the one I quoted it was about subject's own attitude. But I like yours, and I'll probably remember it. It is so nicely evil O_O

[allova]

What's the Russian phrase for that? Can you spell it phonetically? I'd love to slip that into conversation sometime..."Well, you know, as the Russians like to say..."

[ostaralight]

Well, the Russian version is just as I said above. If you need the totally exact grammatical form it'll be "better to do and to regret rather than to not do and to regret

[janetlin]

Woo, a new verb! How does жалеть conjugate?

[ostaralight]

Um... You mean this?
Я жалею
Ты жалеешь
Он жалеет
Мы жалеем
Вы жалеете
Они жалеют
Past form жалел for singular and жалели for plural. Future is made with the verb быть (я буду жалеть).
There is also a different form of this verb пожалеть, meaning the action is already complete (I don't remember how this form is called), conjugate for future same way as above for present, for past - same way as above for past, and no present, I think.
The noun with same root is жалость, the adjective is жалкий.