The use of "wish" in the past tense

The Grammar Exchange is basing this response on logic, and on the one reference we've found so far.* (If other readers find additional citations or have a different interpretation, please do post here.).

To wish about the past time, as in the situations you've described, you could say, just as you have:

"I wished (last December 10th) that I had been rich (during my life up to and including December 10th.)"

That might or might not indicate that you would still like to be rich, but it does show that you had the wish in the past.

If you really want to say that you had the wish in the past, but now you don't care about material things any more, you might clarify your statement with:

"I used to wish that I were rich," and add "but now I see how unimportant riches are."


The same with the wish for not having said something:

"I wish (now) that I hadn't said that."
"I wished (at the time) that I hadn't said that. (But, I may still wish that; I may be haunted by the memory of my having uttered those awful words.)
"I wished at the time/ I used to wish that I hadn't said that, but now it doesn't matter"

Rachel