I regretted the time I wasted on things that did not matter with people that [do] matter.

Ric Elias, cofounder and CEO of Red Ventures, is widely associated with reflections he shared after surviving US Airways Flight 1549—the “Miracle on the Hudson”—which ditched in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. In talks and interviews about the experience, he describes believing he might die and mentally reviewing his life in the seconds before impact. The quote is presented as one of his post-crisis realizations: that everyday busyness and trivial pursuits can crowd out time and attention that should be invested in the people and relationships that truly matter.

The line contrasts “things that did not matter” with “people that matter,” arguing that misallocated attention is a central human regret. It suggests that trivial pursuits—status anxieties, petty conflicts, busywork—can crowd out what is ultimately meaningful: relationships and care for others. The phrasing frames regret as a moral and emotional accounting performed under extreme pressure, implying that clarity about priorities often arrives too late unless consciously cultivated. As a maxim, it urges deliberate time-use: invest in people and commitments that endure rather than in distractions that feel urgent but prove empty in retrospect.