Well, maybe someone who got fired because of poor work ethics and then never got a job again and died in poverty said it before.

"I wish I achieved more" -- said a large number of people as they died.

Just as an anecdote, my 85-year old peasant grandmother told me this last time I saw her: "I wish my feet won't hurt so much so that I could still work". She's been married since 17 and I don't think she's had a day of vacation in her entire life. Cows and pigs and what-have-you don't feed by themselves.

Depends on the work, I think? If it's degrading nonsense done for the nonsensical greed of others, sure. But there is no reason to assume or accept this as the only possible kind of work. Why would a doctor not feel good about all the time they spent helping patients, if they were passionate about it, for example?

Sure, you need to find a balance, for yourself and friends and family. But where work is utterly separate from being alive I think something is broken. Just consider what dogs enjoy doing most: running after stuff and biting it. You could say, doing their job, that's what makes them fucking happy. Most animals are harder to read than dogs when it comes to happiness, but I really don't see dragging anyone "dragging their feet to work" except humans, and maybe some animals that lived too close to humans, or were caged by them.

Surely it's been said more often than "I should have stayed home and watched more sitcoms".