Don’t be afraid of missing opportunities. Behind every failure is an opportunity somebody wishes they had missed.

The line flips the usual self-help anxiety about “missing out” into a wry warning about the costs of chasing every opening. Tomlin suggests that what looks like a lost chance can be a hidden protection: some “opportunities” lead to overcommitment, bad partnerships, or reputational and financial harm. By pairing “failure” with “opportunity somebody wishes they had missed,” the quote reframes failure as evidence that not all doors are worth walking through. Its comic bite underscores a practical ethic—discernment matters as much as ambition, and regret often comes from saying yes too quickly rather than from saying no.