Inspiring Quotes for Drug Recovery: A Collection of Hope

"Sometimes, we motivate ourselves by thinking of what we want to become. Sometimes we motivate ourselves by thinking about who we don’t ever want to be again."

- Shane Niemeyer

"I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'"

- Muhammad Ali

"Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new ending."

- Carl Bard

"The best way out is always through."

- Robert Frost

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

- Confucius

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out."

- Robert Collier

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."

- Japanese Proverb

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising up every time we fail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Believe you can, and you’re halfway there."

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Every worthy act is difficult. Ascent is always difficult. Descent is easy and often slippery."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Amazing how we can light tomorrow with today."

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will."

- Mahatma Gandhi

"Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving. We get stronger and more resilient."

- Steve Maraboli

"Sometimes you’ve just got to give yourself what you wish someone else would give you."

- Dr. Phil

"My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present."

- Steve Goodier

"If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime."

- Benjamin Alire Sáenz

"I really mean when I say my biggest fear in early recovery was that I would never have fun again. The beautiful truth is that recovery has given me freedom and the confidence to go out in the world and leave my own mark."

- Tom Stoddart

"The only journey is the one within."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Addictions … started out like magical pets, pocket monsters. They did extraordinary tricks, show you things you hadn’t seen, and were fun. But came, through some gradual dire alchemy, to make decisions for you. Eventually, they were making your most crucial life decisions. And they were … less intelligent than goldfish."

- William Gibson

"Nobody stays recovered unless the life they have created is more rewarding and satisfying than the one they left behind."

- Anne Fletcher

"She goes from one addiction to another. All are ways for her to not feel her feelings."

- Ellen Burstyn

"I have come to believe that caring for myself is not self-indulgent. Caring for myself is an act of survival."

- Audre Lorde

"Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends of being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take the step."

- Naeem Callaway

"It always seems impossible until it’s done."

- Nelson Mandela

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, 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

"Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life."

- Brené Brown

"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep walking."

- Buddhist Proverb

"If things go wrong, don’t go with them."

- Roger Babson

"No matter how dark the night may get, your light will never burn out."

- Jeanette LeBlanc

"I got sober. I stopped killing myself with alcohol. I began to think: ‘Wait a minute. If I can stop doing this, what are the possibilities?’ And slowly it dawned on me that it was maybe worth the risk."

- Craig Ferguson

"I personally believe this: We have only today; yesterday’s gone and tomorrow is uncertain. That’s why they call it the present. And sobriety really is a gift… for those who are willing to receive it."

- Ace Frehley

"Don’t let the past steal your present."

- Terri Guillemets

"Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles, and you have to change it."

- Jamie Lee Curtis

"One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery."

- Demi Lovato

"The great thing in this world is not so much where you stand as what direction you are moving."

- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"I think that the power is in the principle. The principle of moving forward, as though you have the confidence to move forward, eventually gives you confidence when you look back and see what you’ve done."

- Robert Downey Jr.

"Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it."

- Jamie Lee Curtis

"The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, but human connection."

- Johann Hari

"Recovery is an ongoing process, for both the addict and his or her family. In recovery, there is hope. And hope is a wonderful thing."

- Dean Dauphinais

"My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment."

- Steve Goodier

"Drugs take you to hell, disguised as heaven."

- Donald Lyn Frost

"We all make mistakes, have struggles, and even regret things in our past. But you are not your mistakes, you are not your struggles, and you are here now with the power to shape your day and your future."

- Steve Maraboli

"Getting sober was one of the three pivotal events in my life, along with becoming an actor and having a child. Of the three, finding my sobriety was the hardest thing."

- Gary Oldman

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer."

- Albert Camus

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

- Confucius

"Recovery is taking all twelve steps …over and over and over and over…"

- Toni Sorenson

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Hope is a good thing, maybe even the best of things, and good things never die."

- Stephen King

"The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are."

- J.P. Morgan

"Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t."

- Steve Maraboli

"When was the last time you woke up and wished you’d had just one more drink the night before? I have never regretted not drinking."

- Meredith Bell

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

- Winston Churchill

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."

- Socrates

"A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong."

- Brené Brown

"Given love and opportunity, every child and adult can recover. All who know this and have the capacity to help others should assist as they can."

- Dallin H. Oaks

"It is only in our darkest hours that we may discover the true strength of the brilliant light within ourselves that can never, ever, be dimmed."

- Doe Zantamata

"The Only Person You Are Destined To Become Is The Person You Decide To Be."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Experience Is Not What Happens To You, It Is What You Do With What Happens To You."

- Aldous Huxley

"The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny."

- C.S. Lewis

"Though No One Can Go Back And Make A Brand New Start, Anyone Can Start From Now And Make A Brand New Ending."

- Carl Bard

"Every experience in your life is being orchestrated to teach you something you need to know to move forward."

- Brian Tracy

"Addiction denied is recovery delayed."

- Mokokoma Mokhonoana

"These feelings, no matter how painful, are part of living. Today, we are alive—not anesthetized, not sedated, not passed out."

- Ann D. Clark

"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any."

- Alice Walker

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

- Robert Louis Stevenson

"You have to break down before you can breakthrough."

- Marilyn Ferguson

"Hard times build determination and inner strength. Through them, we can also come to appreciate the uselessness of anger."

- Dalai Lama

"You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Your addiction is not you, but it feels like you because you’ve spent so much intimate time together."

- Toni Sorenson

"Life is a series of relapses and recoveries."

- George Ade

"Sometimes We Motivate Ourselves By Thinking Of What We Want To Become. Sometimes We Motivate Ourselves By Thinking About Who We Don’t Ever Want To Be Again."

- Shane Niemeyer

"Either You Run The Day, Or The Day Runs You."

- Jim Rohn

"What progress, you ask, have I made? I have begun to be a friend to myself."

- Hecato

"Don’t Let the Past Steal Your Present."

- Terri Guillemets

"Every noble work is at first impossible."

- Thomas Carlyle

"Change your behaviours and your feelings will follow."

- Susan McManhon

"People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily."

- Zig Ziglar

"Addiction is just a way of trying to get at something else. Something bigger. Call it transcendence if you want, but it’s like a rat in a maze. We all want the same thing. We all have this hole. The thing you want offers relief, but it’s a trap."

- Tess Callahan

"People Become Attached To Their Burdens Sometimes More Than The Burdens Are Attached To Them."

- George Bernard Shaw

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

- J.K. Rowling

"Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there."

- Robert Downey Jr.

"Happiness is where we find it, but rarely where we seek it."

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out."

"I’m not telling you it is going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it."

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

"When everything seems like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top."

"Addiction makes you blind to your reality."

- Anonymous

"I used drugs to feel better. I quit drugs to be better."

- Anonymous

"You were never created to live depressed, defeated, guilty, condemned, ashamed or unworthy. You were created to be victorious."

"I’m not telling you it is going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it!"

"I am not defined by my relapses, but by my decision to remain in recovery despite them."

"Recovery is not a race. You don’t have to feel guilty if it takes you longer than you thought it would."

"You don’t get over an addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you don’t create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will catch up with you again."

"You are not weak for struggling. You are strong for continuing to fight."

- Anonymous

"Recovery is hard, but not recovering is harder."

"Recovery is about progression, not perfection."

"The Goal Isn’t To Be Sober. The Goal Is To Love Yourself So Much That You Don’t Need To Drink."

"There Is No Shame In Beginning Again, For You Get A Chance To Build Bigger And Better Than Before."

"The goal isn’t to be sober. The goal is to love yourself so much that you don’t need to drink."

"My recovery must come first so that everything I love in life doesn’t have to come last."

"Addiction: the disease that makes you too selfish to see the havoc that you created or care about the people whose lives you shattered."

"When Your Past Calls, Don’t Answer. It Has Nothing New To Say."

"Addiction is the only prison where the locks are on the inside."

"I am not defined by my relapses but by my decision to remain in recovery despite them."