In Greek, the word ‘repent’ literally means “to turn around”. This Maxim, like the one that tells us to “Live without sorrow”, is about how we should act on a daily basis. We should live our lives in ways that will not cause us regrets and the feeling of needing to repent for our actions. This does not mean that if we do something wrong that we should not correct it, but it does mean that we must act without fear as much as possible. We need to aim well so that we will not have to backtrack as often.

This is sometimes not as easy as it sounds. Life itself puts obstacles in our paths which sometimes require us to turn around and retrace our steps to an earlier point before we start down a new path. This is not the same as having regrets although regret often figures into the equation for many people.

When you both “Act without repenting” and “live without sorrow” you begin to live a life without regrets. When you live without needing to repent it makes it easier to admit to your errors and to fix them. This Maxim would prefer us to fix things rather than beat ourselves up for them and that is why we act in such a way that we will not have to ‘turn around’ as often.