50+ Best Inspirational Quotes for Depression to Lift Your Spirit

"You are stronger than you seem, braver than you believe, and smarter than you think."

- A.A. Milne

"Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle."

- Christian D. Larson

"There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t."

- John Green

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all."

- Emily Dickinson

"Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you dont believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because its good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason."

- Andrew Solomon

"Mental health problems don’t define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain and you feel the rain, but you are not the rain."

- Matt Haig

"The advice I’d give to somebody that’s silently struggling is, you don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent."

- Demi Lovato

"We would never tell someone with a broken leg that they should stop wallowing and get it together. We don’t consider taking medication for an ear infection something to be ashamed of. We shouldn’t treat mental health conditions any differently."

- Michelle Obama

"You are not alone. You are seen. I am with you. You are not alone."

- Shonda Rhimes

"You say youre depressed  all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesnt mean youre defective  it just means youre human."

- David Mitchell

"I cannot stand the words ‘Get over it’. All of us are under such pressure to put our problems in the past tense. Slow down. Don’t allow others to hurry your healing. It is a process, one that may take years, occasionally, even a lifetime – and that’s OK."

- Beau Taplin

"You say you’re ‘depressed’ — all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective — it just means you’re human."

- David Mitchell

"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."

- J.K. Rowling

"You say you’re depressed — all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective–it just means you’re human."

- David Mitchell

"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back."

- Albert Camus

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."

- Albus Dumbledore

"Your mental health is everything – prioritize it. Make the time like your life depends on it, because it does."

- Mel Robbins

"We will never find peace outside ourselves until we make peace within ourselves."

- Dalai Lama

"Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise."

- Victor Hugo

"If you’re going through hell, keep going."

- Winston Churchill

"And still, I rise."

- Maya Angelou

"Depression is a part of my life, but it’s not my whole life."

- Stephen Fry

"I’m not ashamed to say that I’ve struggled with depression."

- Kristen Bell

"As Confucius said, our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we do."

- Confucius

"You are valuable just because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are."

- Max Lucado

"Even if we don’t have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there."

- Stephen Chbosky

"Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"This feeling will pass. The fear is real but the danger is not."

- Cammie McGovern

"Nothing can dim the light that shines from within."

- Maya Angelou

"You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared and anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a negative person. It makes you human."

- Lori Deschene

"You are not your depression. You are a person who has depression."

- Stephen Fry

"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."

- Louisa May Alcott

"There is no normal life that is free of pain. It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth."

- Fred Rogers

"This too shall pass."

- Pinterest

"Youre like a grey sky. Youre beautiful, even though you dont want to be."

- Jasmine Warga

"The best way out is always through."

- Robert Frost

"Emotional pain is not something that should be hidden away and never spoken about. There is truth in your pain, there is growth in your pain, but only if it’s first brought out into the open."

- Steven Aitchison

"Not all battles are visible and neither are the victories."

- Brittany Burgunder

"It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light."

- Aristotle

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress."

- Frederick Douglass

"Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love."

- Brené Brown

"I learned that my sadness never destroyed what was great about me. You just have to go back to that greatness, find that one little light that’s left. I’m lucky I found one little glimmer stored away."

- Lady Gaga

"One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart."

- Linda Poindexter

"What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation."

- Glenn Close

"Sometimes when you’re in a dark place, you think you’ve been buried, but actually you’ve been planted."

- Christine Caine

"circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start."

- Nido Qubein

"You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously."

- Sophia Bush

"If we start being honest about our pain, our anger, and our shortcomings instead of pretending they don’t exist, then maybe we’ll leave the world a better place than we found it."

- Russell Wilson

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

- Kahlil Gibran

"The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

- Oliver Goldsmith

"There is hope, even when your brain tells you otherwise."

- John Green

"Sometimes self care is exercise and eating right. Sometimes it’s spending time with loved ones or taking a nap. And sometimes it’s watching an entire season of TV in one weekend while you lounge around in your pajamas. Whatever soothes your soul."

- Nanea Hoffman

"We are not our trauma. We are not our brain chemistry. That’s part of who we are, but we’re so much more than that."

- Sam J. Miller

"Women have to take the time to focus on our mental health — take time for self, for the spiritual, without feeling guilty or selfish. The world will see you the way you see you, and treat you the way you treat yourself."

- Beyoncé

"I have depression. I’ve had it for years."

- Dwayne Johnson

"I’ve struggled with depression my whole life."

- Lady Gaga

"I’ve been to the darkest places, but I’ve also been to the brightest places."

- Michael Phelps

"My dark days made me strong. Or maybe I already was strong, and they made me prove it."

- Emery Lord

"Self-care is how you take your power back."

- Lalah Delia

"Just because no one else can heal or do your inner work for you doesn’t mean you can, should, or need to do it alone."

- Lisa Olivera

"Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- A.A. Milne

"Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they're never weakness."

- Brené Brown

"You are not your illness. You have an individual story to tell. You have a name, a history, a personality. Staying yourself is part of the battle."

- Julian Seifter

"Mental health…is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going."

- Noam Shpancer, PhD

"Being able to be your true self is one of the strongest components of good mental health."

- Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

"It is not the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind."

- Aisha Mirza

"My brother died from depression. He also frequently exercised, had supportive friends/family, was successful in school and work. He had goals that he was constantly reaching—he still completed suicide. People who are depressed are not weak-minded—they are sick."

- Maddie Rawrk

"I think it’s really important to take the stigma away from mental health… My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth."

- Kerry Washington

"When you say you are depressed, all I can see is pure resilience. As a human being, you are permitted to feel inside out and “messed up.” Depression does not mean you are defective. It simply means you are human."

- David Mitchell

"Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’"

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in."

- Leonard Cohen

"You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you."

- Dan Millman

"Anyone can be affected, despite their level of success or their place on the food chain. In fact, there is a good chance you know someone who is struggling with it since nearly 20% of American adults face some form of mental illness in their lifetime. So why aren’t we talking about it?"

- Kristen Bell

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

- Confucius

"Be dedicated to change the way in which people see mental illness at all levels of society. If not for yourself, advocate for those who are struggling in silence."

- Germany Kent

"You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you."

- Dan Millman

"I think the saddest people always try their hardest to make people happy. Because they know what it feels like to feel absolutely worthless and they don’t want anybody else to feel that way."

- Robin Williams

"Slow breathing is like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won't make the storm go away, but it will hold you steady until it passes."

- Russ Harris

"The only way out is through."

- Robert Frost

"Your present circumstances don’t determine where you go; they merely determine where you start."

- Nido Qubein

"I am thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldnt have come across my strength."

- Alex Elle

"The most beautiful people Ive known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths."

- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

"Dealing with depression effectively is a mark not of weakness, but your strength."

- SAMHSA Helpline

"There is power in knowing you are battling depression."

- SAMHSA

"There is a crack in everything, thats how the light gets in."

- Leonard Cohen

"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."

- Winston Churchill

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you havent found it yet, keep looking. Dont settle. As with all matters of the heart, youll know when you find it."

- Steve Jobs

"Pain nourishes courage. You cant be brave if youve only had wonderful things happen to you."

- Mary Tyler Moore

"You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection."

- Buddha

"To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance."

- Oscar Wilde

"Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and wont accept."

- Anna Taylor

"Many of lifes failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."

- Thomas A. Edison

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

- Helen Keller

"You, of all people deserve a happy ending."

- Sylvain Reynard

"The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved  loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves."

- Victor Hugo

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

- Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

"‘Positive vibes only’ isn’t a thing. Humans have a wide range of emotions and that’s OK."

- Molly Bahr, LMHC

"Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them."

- Joubert Botha

"Deep breathing is our nervous system’s love language."

- Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

"I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars."

- Og Mandino

"You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."

- A.A. Milne

"Even from a dark night, songs of beauty can be born."

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. ‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭13‬."

- Bible (Romans 15:13)

"Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us."

- David Richo

"There is no standard normal. Normal is subjective. There are seven billion versions of normal on this planet."

- Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive

"Out of difficulties grow miracles."

- Jean de La Bruyère

"In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to the present."

- Julia Cameron

"The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality."

- William Styron

"Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves."

- Henry David Thoreau

"It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it."

- Lou Holtz

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

"As Abraham Lincoln once said, if we magnified our successes as much as we magnified our disappointments, we’d all be much happier."

- Abraham Lincoln

"Change what you can, manage what you can’t."

- Raymond McCauley

"Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start."

- Nibo Qubein

"Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live."

- Jim Rohn

"Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer."

- Dorothy Rowe

"Sadness and depression will fly away on the wings of time."

- Jean de La Fontaine

"The only journey is the journey within."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so."

- Lemony Snicket

"Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be alright."

- Bob Marley

"I can’t help but feel that I am in some way the architect of my own misery."

- Sylvia Plath

"It's ok to feel s**t, give yourself the opportunity to feel s**t, don't fight it!"

- Psychiatrist

"Never react emotionally to criticism. Take time to objectively evaluate the criticism. Is it justified? If it is, correct yourself. Otherwise, go on about your business."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process."

- Vincent Van Gogh

"I wanted to write down exactly what I felt, but somehow the paper stayed empty, and I could not have described it any better."

- WTM

"And something inside me just broke. That’s the only way I could describe it."

- Ranata Suzuki

"In the darkest night, the stars are still there, you just can't see them."

- Friend of a psychiatrist

"The heart was made to be broken."

- Oscar Wilde

"Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day."

- Alice Morse Earle

"Have patience with yourself. When you learn to be patient with yourself, you learn to be patient with the rest of the world."

- Anonymous

"Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step."

- Mariska Hargitay

"Stars can’t shine without darkness."

- D.H. Sidebottom

"If you rearrange the letters in depression, you’ll get ‘I pressed on' - meaning your current situation is NOT your final destination."

"If I am feeling depressed or having a depressive episode, I remind myself that I am NOT my depression. I am more than this."

"If you rearrange the letters in Depression, you’ll get “I pressed on.” Your current situation is not your final destination."

"I am here for you, and it’s okay to feel this way. You are not alone in this struggle."

"On particularly rough days when Im sure I cant possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100%, and thats pretty good."

- Unknown

"It was only a sunny smile, and little it cost in the giving, but like morning light it scattered the night and made the day worth living."

"Never quit on a bad day ... like wait for a good day and see if you still feel the same."

"One foot in front of the other. Climb the ladder one step at a time. Believe in yourself, you can do this. The light at the end of the tunnel will come."

"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end!"

"I know youre sad, so I wont tell you to have a good day. Instead, I advise you to have a day. Stay alive, feed yourself well, wear comfortable clothes, and dont give up on yourself just yet. Itll get better. Until then, have a day."

- Unknown

"You dont have to have it all figured out to move forward."

- Unknown

"Get rid of the baggage of who you are not. Embrace who you really are. It is not important what others think of you. You are not here to make others happy."

"You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s okay to feel sad, angry, or scared. Just remember, at the end of the tunnel, the light shines brighter!"

"You are not your thoughts; you are the observer of your thoughts."

"Sometimes the strongest people are the ones who fight battles you know nothing about."

- Unknown

"You are not alone in this fight. There are people who care about you and want to help."

- Unknown

"A full recovery is possible. Broken bones heal stronger."

"When you feel like you don't have the motivation or energy to do even the most basic of activities, remember that 1% beats 0% ... little wins pave the way for big wins."

"Nothing in life is permanent. Don’t let one bad thing ruin your whole day/week/month. If you can’t change it, let it go and move on."

"Never be ashamed of a scar. It means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you."

- Unknown

"The difference between your mind and my mind is this: Your mind wants to keep you alive, and mine wants to kill me."

"Just remember your success rate of getting though bad days is 100%."

"What’s wrong? I’m ugly. I’m fat. I’m a failure. I’m depressed. I’m suffering. I hate this world. I hate myself. I’m imperfect. I can’t do anything right. I’m disgusting. I’m just not okay. Nothing, I’m fine."

"Exercise is a natural mood booster. Find an activity you enjoy and make it a part of your daily routine."

- Unknown

"Depression is like a black hole, some days you’re lucky to get out of bed."

"Depression is a war you fight alone, but don’t have to win by yourself."

- Unknown

"Depression is a lot like drowning, except that you can see everyone else around you breathing."

"You don’t have to be okay all the time. It’s okay to not be okay."

- Unknown

"Depression is feeling like you’ve lost something but having no clue when or where you last had it. Then, one day you realize what you lost was yourself."

"Depression is such a cruel punishment. There are no fevers, no rashes, no blood tests to send people scurrying in concern, just the slow erosion of self, as insidious as cancer. And like cancer, it is essentially a solitary experience, a room in hell with only your name on the door."

"You will not get better with shame ... you will get better with love."

"Eat a healthy diet. A healthy body and mind are connected."

- Unknown

"Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep can exacerbate depression symptoms."

- Unknown

"Mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment, without judgment."

- Unknown

"Even in a huge crowd, you can feel alone. But remember, you are not alone in your struggle."

- Unknown

"I think I’m afraid to be happy because whenever I get too happy, something bad always happens."

"Nothing is more depressing than having everything and still feeling really sad."

"Nobody ever tells you that emptiness weighs the most."

"Declutter your life. Eliminate anything that does not contribute to your evolution as a fully realized human being."

"I don’t feel sad. I don’t feel anything."

"When your intentions are powerful, your actions will be just as powerful. When actions are powerful, results will be extraordinary."

"Surviving is an achievement in and of itself. We've got to give ourselves more credit."

"Never make a permanent decision based on a temporary emotion."

"You are not your illness. You have a story to tell."

"Don’t be afraid to start over. It’s a chance to build something better this time."

"What does depression feel like? You don’t want to live, but you don’t want to die. You don’t want to talk to anyone, but you feel very lonely. You wake up in the morning and simply wait for the night to come."

"The darkest hour is just before the dawn."

"Your depression is trying to get you alone and then it will try to kill you."

"We are not in control of what happens around us but we remain in control of what happens inside us."

"Sometimes, the only way to cope with overwhelming emotions is to hope you can fall asleep and find some relief."