Translation for tattoo

[unit01234]

I'm sure you guys get this asked a lot but most of my resources are tapped trying to do a translation. Unfortunately my Chinese is limited so I lack the vocabulary skills and all my friends are having difficulty trying to  translate or find a similar quote/meaning.

 

English: "Fear is temporary, regret is forever."

 

These are the best translations I can come up with so far but they're either too long or too simple:

 

畏懼一時, 悔恨一生

過錯是暫時的，錯過卻是長久的遺憾

 

 

Please, I am asking if anyone is able to help me with my predicament. I am looking for a deep translation or a similar quote with similar meaning. I preferably like it to be as short as possible but I understand it's quite difficult translating English sayings into Chinese. Thank you for your time and help! 

 

 

[Shelley]

I suggest you read this "sticky" post about tattoos here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/13435-how-to-post-and-how-translating-names-into-chinese-works/

 

It is not usually a good idea to try and translate an English idea into Chinese, a lot gets lost in translation.

 

Remember it doesn't impart any kind of magic or special meaning written in Chinese characters. If you don't live in a predominantly Chinese place, no one will be able to read it and your "message to the world" will go unnoticed.

 

Pick a nice font in your own language, choose a nice colour or picture to go with it and it will look good and be understandable.

 

Even if you get an accurate translation you can't be sure the tattoo artist is skilled in writing characters (its not something you can do easily from a picture) it could be a horrible font or it could be done upside down and a whole lot more terrible mistakes.

 

Go look at the website Hanzi smatters here http://hanzismatter.blogspot.co.uk/

 

As with all tattoos think before you ink and think again and again.