Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?

This line is spoken by Anne Shirley in L. M. Montgomery’s novel *Anne of Green Gables* (1908). Early in the story, Anne—an imaginative, talkative orphan newly arrived at Green Gables on Prince Edward Island—often finds herself in trouble through impulsiveness and misunderstandings. The remark comes after one of Anne’s “scrapes,” when she is chastened by her mistake yet quickly reorients herself toward hope. Montgomery uses Anne’s buoyant resilience to contrast with the stricter, more practical outlook of the adults around her, especially Marilla Cuthbert, and to establish one of the book’s central emotional rhythms: error, remorse, and renewed possibility.

The quote captures a distinctly Anne-like optimism: the belief that time offers moral and emotional reset. “Tomorrow” becomes a symbol of renewal—an unmarked page on which one can try again without being trapped by past failures. It acknowledges mistakes without denying them, but refuses to let them define the self. In the novel’s broader arc, this attitude underwrites Anne’s growth: she learns responsibility and self-control, yet keeps her capacity for wonder and hope. The line’s enduring appeal lies in its gentle reframing of regret into forward-looking resolve, suggesting that improvement is possible precisely because life keeps offering fresh beginnings.