Ashamed to Repent?

Here is a short excerpt from the end of chapter one of Robinson Crusoe, after he was saved from a shipwreck early in life. He had gone to sea against the strong warnings and exhortations of his father, and yet through pride was unable to go back and admit his error.

"... from whence I have since often observed, how incongruous and irrational the common temper of mankind is, especially of youth, to that reason which ought to guide them in such cases - viz., that they are not ashamed to sin, and yet are ashamed to repent; not ashamed of the action for which they ought justly to be esteemed fools, but are ashamed of the returning, which only can make them be esteemed wise men."