mend one's ways

1. Improve one's behavior, as in Threatened with suspension, Jerry promised to mend his ways. This expression, transferring a repair of clothes to one of character, was first recorded in 1868, but 150 or so years earlier it had appeared as mend one's manners.

Example Sentences

Confucius said: “Not to mend one’s ways when one has erred is to err indeed.”

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“Not to mend one’s ways when one has erred is to err indeed,” he admonished.

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"It's a virtue to acknowledge one's mistakes and mend one's ways, and crying is seen as a symbol of that."

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