50+ Inspirational Breast Cancer Awareness Quotes to Empower and Uplift

"Cancer survivors are blessed with two lives. There is your life before cancer, and your life after. I am here to tell you your second life is going to be so much better than the first."

- Hoda Kotb

"Cancer gave me a reason to be the best version of myself, and that’s what I’ve done. You realize that fear can either cripple you or it can motivate you, and it had been crippling me. And I decided to change it, and let that fear be motivating."

- Amy Robach

"I couldn’t change my metastatic breast cancer diagnosis, but I could control my mindset. There might not be a cure (yet!), but there is always hope. Today, tomorrow, and every day after. I trust in research and new treatments, and I trust in the timing of my life."

- Paige Stables

"I wish I could say I’m fearless, that each time I have a scan or blood draw I’m not anxious or stressed. But I’m getting brave. Once you’re faced with the fear of death, or not knowing what tomorrow brings, you’re like, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ I’m working on not allowing fear to be my primary driving factor and living by the lessons I’ve learned so far: Keep breathing. Being mindful. Being grateful. Believing that the universe has a plan for me that is better than the one I could ever imagine."

- Sheetal Dewan

"Even with the best possible scans, my cancer is still considered incurable—although I live with tremendous hope that may change one day. The word ‘incurable’ initially petrified me because we are often led to believe cancer patients are either curable or terminal. But incurable disease can still be treatable, and there exists a third lane in between cured and terminal that is full of hope, meaning, and purpose. That’s the lane I’m in, one in which I’m thriving and living my best life—not only in spite of metastatic breast cancer, but also because of it."

- Sally Joy Wolf

"You beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live."

- Stuart Scott

"We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up or fight like hell."

- Lance Armstrong

"I had cancer, cancer didn’t have me."

- Michael Douglas

"Surviving cancer treatment is like being handed a second life."

- Michael Douglas

"Cancer didn’t bring me to my knees; it brought me to my feet."

- Michael Douglas

"We decide the first day of our cancer diagnosis whether we are going to be victims or survivors. We decide to muster up all our strength to fight to win. We decide to stay positive and not let cancer define us. We decide how we are going to handle each day. Yes, there are good days and bad days, but our attitude determines each day. Hold on to your hopes, dreams, faith, and determinations and gather strength from your support systems, because in the fight against cancer, we cannot give up."

- Ann, survivor

"Fight each round, take it on the chin. And never never never ever give in."

- Olivia Newton-John

"Cancer didn’t bring me to my knees, it brought me to my feet."

- Michael Douglas

"You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have."

- Cayla Mills

"You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and twice as beautiful as you’d ever imagined."

- Rumi

"I started to put myself first. I had voices at the back of my head telling me whatever I did wasn’t good enough. Now, finally, I’ve silenced them."

- Sheryl Crow

"If I can make my cancer purposeful, [I want to] have people understand that if you feel anything amiss, you have to say something. You might not get a response from your doctor that you like. They might push it off and say you don’t need a test or we’ll get you in at your next physical. But we know our body’s best."

- Clea Shearer

"My scars? I barely see them. I feel whole; I really do. Because every day, I get to say, ‘There’s no cancer.’ I’m healthy, and that’s beautiful."

- Wanda Sykes

"It’s about focusing on the fight, not the fright."

- Robin Roberts

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"You can be a victim of cancer, or a survivor of cancer. It’s a mindset."

- Dave Pelzer

"The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived."

- Gilda Radner

"You’re allowed to scream. You’re allowed to cry. But don’t give up."

- Anonymous

"Yesterday is gone, tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today, let us begin."

- Mother Teresa

"My diagnosis flung me into despair until it hit me: I’m Alive"

- Dana Dinerman

"I know how to put on my battle gear and I'm a fighter."

- Suzanne Somers

"Having had cancer, one important thing to know is you’re the same person at the end. You’re stripped down to near zero. But most people come out the other end feeling more like themselves than ever before."

- Kylie Minogue

"I’m going to beat this cancer or die trying."

- Michael Landon

"Remember how far you’ve come, not just how far you have to go. You may not be where you want to be, but neither are you where you used to be."

- Rick Warren

"It’s about focusing on the fight and not the fright."

- Robin Roberts

"I had cancer; cancer never had me."

- Emily Ransom

"A woman is like a tea bag, you cannot tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water."

- Nancy Reagan

"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

"Life’s not about how hard of a hit you can give… it’s about how many you can take, and still keep moving forward."

- Sylvester Stallone

"No matter what kind of challenges or difficulties or painful situations you go through in your life, we all have something deep within us that we can reach down and find the inner strength to get through them."

- Alana Stewart

"Never, never, never give up."

- Winston Churchill

"I’m now 59 with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer. I still don’t have a partner, but I’ve fallen desperately in love with life. Exquisite beauty emerges everywhere: my cat on my lap, a cashier extending an unexpected smile, sunlight skipping across a lake. I use each day to soak up the world’s splendor. ‘Not yet,’ I whisper to the heavens. ‘I love it here.'"

- Clare Cory

"It’s possible not just to survive, but to thrive and to live a healthy, wonderful life again."

- Kris Carr

"My cancer scare changed my life. I’m grateful for every new, healthy day I have. It has helped me prioritize my life."

- Olivia Newton-John

"Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass; it’s about learning to dance in the rain."

- Robin Roberts

"When you are in hot water, just like a tea bag, you discover how strong you really are."

- Kylie Minogue

"When you come to the end of your rope tie a knot and hang on."

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"If children with terminal cancer can find love, joy, beauty and peace in their day – and they do – why don’t we?"

- Dan Zadra

"The experienced mount climber is not intimidated by a mountain – he is inspired by it. The persistent winner is not discouraged by a problem – he is challenged by it. Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills."

- William Arthur Ward

"Life is mostly froth and bubble, but two things stand like stone: friendship in another’s trials and courage in your own."

- Princess Diana

"Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they’re always there."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it, the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me."

- Arianna Huffington

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Working out is my way of saying to cancer, ‘You’re trying to invade my body; you’re trying to take me away from my daughters, but I’m stronger than you. And I’m going to hit harder than you."

- Stuart Scott

"If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell."

- Lance Armstrong

"The experience of a cancer diagnosis will live in me. It was difficult. It was also amazing. Amazing in that you are very aware of your body, of the love that’s around you, of your capability, all sorts of things."

- Kylie Minogue

"Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow."

- Mary Anne Radmacher

"My cancer diagnosis was the permission slip I never needed to start being more intentional with my life and time. I have softened into my hard edges. I spent so many years shaming and picking apart my body, trying to improve and perfect it. Now I stand in awe of what my body is capable of—its resilience, and everything else I had taken for granted."

- Danielle Doby

"Surviving breast cancer redefined who and how I am, although I’m not sure I’d recommend it. Until then, I’d spent a lifetime being a caretaker for everyone around me. From then, I started to put myself first. I had voices at the back of my head telling me whatever I did wasn’t good enough. Now, finally, I’ve silenced them."

- Sheryl Crow

"Many, many years ago, I was on a boat with my husband. I was swimming in the water. He came to the bow of the boat and he said, ‘Jules, I don’t want you to panic, but there’s a shark in the water, so you need to come back.’ And I was far away from the boat. And so, I just saw the ladder and I started swimming toward it, and I made the decision not to look around me at all. I was just going to stay looking at the ladder. And that very much applied to how I got through my cancer adventure—was sort of looking at the ladder. Just let’s get this done, let’s get there."

- Julia Louis-Dreyfus

"My advice is to remember that only you can fight your cancer. Other people can do the laundry, make meals, and even wipe away tears. You must – even if it’s the first time in your life – think of yourself first. No one can fight this battle well as you can."

- Deborah, survivor

"Cancer is messy and scary. You throw everything at it, but don’t forget to throw love at it. It turns out that might be the best weapon of all."

- Regina Brett

"Cancer is a word, not a sentence."

- John Diamond

"The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it."

- C.C. Scott

"My will, my faith and my body have been challenged. But make no mistake, my heart is strong and my resolve to fight will never be broken."

- Anastacia

"Having cancer does make you try to be better at everything. I try to be more conscious of every decision, more conscious of kindness."

- Melissa Etheridge

"The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next."

- Mignon McLaughlin

"Once I overcame breast cancer, I wasn’t afraid of anything anymore."

- Melissa Etheridge

"The important thing is not how many years in your life, but how much life in your years."

- Edward J. Stieglitz

"Breast cancer changes you, and the change can be beautiful."

- Jane Cook

"Every day is a chance to create a memory and to love a little more."

- Robin Roberts

"Time is shortening. But every day that I challenge this cancer and survive is a victory for me."

- Ingrid Bergman

"I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship."

- Amy March

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us."

- Samuel Smiles

"You never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice."

- Bob Marley

"There can be life after breast cancer. The prerequisite is early detection."

- Ann Jillian

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."

- Henry Ford

"When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: You haven’t."

- Thomas Edison

"To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another."

- Katherine Paterson

"I have a lot to say about the pain I have endured with breast cancer, and I will continue to speak out."

- Christina Applegate

"Breast cancer is scary, and no one understands that like another woman who has gone through it too."

- Mindy Sterling

"Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging."

- Joseph Campbell

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"When I think about where we were with breast cancer 30 years ago and where we are now, the advances have just been remarkable: better diagnostics, better medical therapy, better surgical therapy, better radiation therapy, and most important, a better understanding of the disease. The vast majority if not all of these significant advances have involved one or more BCRF investigators."

- Dr. Larry Norton

"We are really making a lot of progress in research, and treatment is very different today than it was even 10 years ago. It’s hard to predict where it will be 10 years from now, but I think breast cancer is going to be one of the first cancers where we’re going to be able to say that we’ve virtually eliminated mortality."

- Dr. Eric Winer

"While you’re living, live."

- Valerie Harper

"The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience. Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around… Throughout history, ‘tender loving care’ has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing."

- Larry Dossey

"When I first was diagnosed, my gut reaction was, ‘This is a terrible thing.’ But as my journey has progressed, I feel so blessed because I’ve experienced the most incredible outpouring of love you can imagine."

- Victoria Lavine

"Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you."

- Ruth Bader Ginsburg

"I’m here today because I refused to be unhappy. I took a chance."

- Wanda Sykes

"I think cancer is a hard battle to fight alone or with another person at your side, but I will say having someone to pick you up when you fall, stand by your side through every appointment and delivery of bad news, is priceless."

- Jenna Morasca

"The hardest thing you can do is smile when you are ill, in pain, or depressed. But this no-cost remedy is a necessary first half-step if you are to start on the road to recovery."

- Allen Klein

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

- Nibo Qubein

"Don’t be afraid to ask for the help you need, whether it is an errand or a hand to hold – your friends and family really do want to help in any way they can."

- Gary Breslow, MD, FACS

"Cancer is a journey, but you walk the road alone. There are many places to stop along the way and get nourishment – you just have to be willing to take it."

- Emily Hollenberg

"No matter what the statistics say, there is always a way."

- Bernie Siegel

"Through strength, I will mend."

- Anonymous

"Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles."

- Alex Karras

"Breast cancer is scary and no one understands that like another woman who has gone through it too."

- Mindy Sterling

"Since I had cancer I’ve realised that every day is a bonus."

- Geoffrey Boycott

"The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart."

- Nikolai Lenin

"It’s not what they take away from you that counts – it’s what you do with what you have left."

- Hubert

"Cancer affects all of us, whether you’re a daughter, mother, sister, friend, coworker, doctor, or patient."

- Jennifer Aniston

"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."

- Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

"A couple years ago I got breast cancer, and that was a good test, because I always said I’m not afraid of dying. And I wasn’t. I mean, I felt, God, I’ve just joined a family of millions of women who have gone through this. And how interesting. What a journey this is going to be."

- Jane Fonda

"Life’s better now. I wouldn’t do it all over again, though. It's funny how life works. Maybe it was meant to happen for many reasons because my life in many ways richer."

- Giuliana Rancic

"The cancer served a real purpose, making me a little bit more conscious of time."

- Gloria Steinem

"If you have any doubt, go back again...because someone is in a white coat and using big medical instruments doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right."

- Kylie Minogue

"Cancer is really hard to go through and it’s really hard to watch someone you love go through, and I know because I have been on both sides of the equation."

- Cynthia Nixon

"Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway."

- Emory Austin

"Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always."

- Hippocrates

"Your life is your story. Write well. Edit often."

- Susan Statham

"It’s not having what you want, it’s wanting what you’ve got."

- Sheryl Crow

"If you have any doubt, go back again… Because someone is in a white coat and using big medical instruments doesn’t necessarily mean they’re right."

- Kylie Minogue

"Cancer is so limited… It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot destroy peace. It cannot kill friendship. It cannot suppress memories. It cannot silence courage. It cannot invade the soul. It cannot steal eternal life. It cannot conquer the spirit."

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons."

"Never give up. Life is worth living. There is life after cancer."

"Whatever you do, hold on to hope. The tiniest thread will twist into an unbreakable cord. Let hope anchor you in the possibility that this is not the end of your story, that change will bring you to peaceful shores."

- Unknown

"Cancer may have started the fight, but I will finish it."

"You beat cancer by how you live, why you live and in the manner in which you live."

"Awareness today, a cure tomorrow"

"Cancer is a disease, not a death sentence. Faith and positivism can be huge weapons to have in one’s arsenal."