100+ Inspirational Quotes to Empower and Uplift People with Cancer

"Never stop smiling, never stop dreaming, never be negative, never stop believing, never stop fighting, never lose faith, never let yourself be overcome by fear. Never give up!"

- St. Jude patient Alana

"I have cancer. Cancer doesn’t have me."

- Marco Calderon

"Don’t count the days. Make the days count."

- Muhammad Ali

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

- Stuart Scott

"Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher."

- Oprah

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

- Thomas Edison

"Once you choose hope, anything’s possible."

- Christopher Reeve

"Cancer is only going to be a chapter in your life, not the whole story."

- Joe Wasser

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

- Lance Armstrong

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

- Dave Pelzer

"You have to be willing to give up the life you planned, and instead, greet the life that is waiting for you."

- Joseph Campbell

"Isaiah 41:10 “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”"

- Isaiah 41:10

"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

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

- Michael Douglas

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift – that’s why it’s called ‘the present.'"

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and loved more than you know."

- Christopher Robin

"Run when you can. Walk if you have to. Crawl if you must. But never give up."

- Dean Karnazes

"My husband would always tell his mom, 'Just keep punching,' and 'Whenever the opponent hits you, get up and hit back harder.' It gave her such a focus, and every time cancer knocked her down, she'd do her best to bounce back up and punch back. She repeated it so often that it was her mantra."

- Rachel's husband

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

- Kris Carr

"Don’t give up. Every day is worth it."

- Hashmat Effendi

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

- Mother Teresa

"Cancer doesn’t have to define you."

- Nelda Blair

"I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night."

- Galileo

"Cancer is a word, not a sentence."

- John Diamond

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

- Samuel Smiles

"Our way is not soft grass; it’s a mountain path with lots of rocks. But it goes upwards, forward, toward the sun."

- Ruth Westheimer

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds, and diamonds are made under pressure."

- Peter Marshall

"Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you. All things are passing; God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who possesses God lacks nothing. God alone suffices."

- St. Teresa of Avila

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."

- Psalm 46:1

"Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark."

- Rabindranath Tagore

"Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken."

- Psalm 62:1-2

"In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

- Albert Camus

"Accept what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be."

- Sonia Ricotti

"When you go through deep waters, I will be with you."

- Isaiah 43:2

"Isaiah 41:10 “Fear not, for I am with you..be not afraid for I am your God…"

- Isaiah 41:10

"Be a peace with the cancer; dont me angry at it and dont say ‘why me’."

- 10 yr plus survivor of pancreatic cancer

"Tough times don’t last. Tough people do."

- Robert H. Schuller

"If you can, find a purpose - something to do that occupies your time and your mind so you're not always concentrating on the cancer."

- Diane Detter

"If there’s an experience you want to have, go for it. Try not to put things off. Do what you can to not let cancer be your whole life."

- Darlene Nichols

"A positive attitude is at least as important as everything that’s thrown at you during treatment."

- Scott Ward

"We all know what that isolation of a cancer diagnosis feels like. Hearing other people’s stories and the dimensions that happen on their paths can make you feel less alone and remain positive."

- Wendy Passer

"If you think things are going to go right, you’re probably right. If you think things are going to go wrong, you’re probably right."

- John Schaeffer

"You’re stronger than you ever realized, without a doubt."

- Theresa Gougeon

"You must DO the things YOU THINK you cannot do."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

- Steve Jobs

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."

- Maya Angelou

"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."

- Robert H. Goddard

"Cancer changes your life, often for the better. You learn what's important, you learn to prioritize, and you learn not to waste your time. You tell people you love them."

- Joel Siegel

"The only way to make sense of change is to plunge into it flow with it . . . and join the dance."

- Alan Watts

"When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters - one represents danger, the other represents opportunity."

- John F. Kennedy

"You can be sad. You can go there. But you can’t stay there. Try to set your intention to get through the day and be as present as you can be."

- Heather Jose

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."

- Abraham Lincoln

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"The wish for healing has always been half of health."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

"If the only miracle we are looking for is the big one ... then we will most likely miss the other miracles that are unfolding before our very eyes, each and every day."

- Deacon Wayne Charlton, Rogel Cancer Center Chaplain

"I am not this hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within."

- Rummi

"Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always."

- Hippocrates

"The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places."

- Ernest Hemingway

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"The beginning is always today."

- Mary Shelley

"Faith is a state of mind that can be conditioned through self-discipline. Faith will accomplish."

- Bruce Lee

"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says I’m possible!"

- Audrey Hepburn

"A positive attitude is a good medicine."

- Cancer survivor

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

- Bernie Siegel

"Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

- Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure."

- Peter Marshall

"Keep your face always toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you."

- Walt Whitman

"You define your own life. Don’t let other people or your circumstances write your script."

- Oprah Winfrey

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Aristotle

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

- Theodore Roosevelt

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts today."

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"Be Strong – Stay Strong."

- Steve

"One day at a time, one step at a time. Do what you can; do your best. Let God handle the rest."

- Safe Haven Cancer Support Society

"No one can be strong 100% of the time; the key is bouncing back."

- Cancer patient

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."

- Winston Churchill

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

- Vivian Greene

"Each day is a gift. That is why they call it “present.”"

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Control what you can control, your mind and attitude."

- Cancer Survivor

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

- Robin Roberts

"Difficult roads can lead to beautiful destinations."

- Kia Wynn

"There's always hope beyond what you see."

- Cora Connor

"Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it."

- Charles R. Swindoll

"Cancer is like a teeter-totter. Sometimes you gotta go down to go back up."

- John Kennedy

"Enjoy every day without worrying about the next."

- Diego Zamora

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

- Theodore Roosevelt

"Keep the faith— faith in God, faith in your doctors, faith in yourself. One day at a time."

- Albert

"She believed she could, so she did."

- R. S. Grey

"Don't look for miracles, you yourself are a miracle"

- Henry Miller

"To have courage for whatever comes in life — everything lies in that."

- Teresa of Ávila

"To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity."

- Samuel Johnson

"The soul is stronger than its surroundings."

- William James

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Once you face your fear, nothing is ever as hard as you think."

- Olivia Newton John

"Sometimes it’s like the scariest thing in the world becomes the thing that makes you fearless."

- Hoda Kotb

"And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb."

- Kahlil Gibran

"Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just find a different way to stand."

- Oprah Winfrey

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

- Steve Maraboli

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"The harder the battle, the sweeter the victory."

- Les Brown

"Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you."

- Misty Copeland

"Look well into yourself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if you will always look there."

- Marcus Aurelius

"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."

- Albert Camus

"It is not the strength of the body that counts, but the strength of the spirit."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

"Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else."

- Fred Rogers

"Don't get hung up on the hard times, the challenges. Tell your story by highlighting the victories. Because it's your victories that will inspire, motivate, encourage other people to live their stories in grander ways."

- Iyanla Vanzant

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

- Theodore Roosevelt

"HOPE is living with COURAGE and CONFIDENCE, not FEAR."

- Penny Boldrey, Cancer Survivor

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right."

- Henry Ford

"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."

- Robert Louis Stevenson

"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

"Hope is the ability to hear the music of the future. Faith is the courage to dance to it today."

- Peter Kuzmic

"Remove negative things and people from your life and seek out the positive."

- Cancer Survivor

"Don’t play the “What If” game."

- Cancer Survivor

"Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God: I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand."

- Isaiah 41:10

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow."

- Orison Swett Marden

"Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future."

- Robert H. Schuller

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as the expectation of something better tomorrow."

- Orison Swett Marden

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

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

- Marcus Aurelius

"Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear the hardship today."

- Thich Nhat Hanh

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

- Nibo Qubein

"Dealing with it is the operative word. I found myself at seven years not battling it. Not struggling with it. Not suffering from it. Not breaking under the burden of it, but dealing with it."

- Michael J Fox

"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid."

- Frederick Buechner

"I am not this hair; I am not this skin; I am the soul that lives within."

- Rumi

"We’re all here to help one another... when we are together, we can make things happen."

- Stephanie, mom of St. Jude patient Aspen

"There are two kinds of people in this world: The givers and the takers. The takers sometimes eat better, but the givers always sleep better."

- St. Jude founder Danny Thomas

"Don't think about the ocean. Think of that drop of water that can make a difference."

- CPA and St. Jude supporter James Ingold

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

- Winston Churchill

"I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am."

- Sylvia Plath

"To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

"Shining through tears, like April suns in showers, that labor to overcome the cloud that loads em."

- Thomas Otway

"I will say of the Lord; he is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust."

- Psalm 91:1,2

"For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the Lord."

- Jeremiah 30:17a

"Being positive is the best medicine you can take."

- Maggie Howard

"Don’t pass up the cherry pie."

- Eddie Yarmer

"Don't tell me the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon."

- Artwork by St. Jude patient Kane

"Hope is living with courage and confidence, not fear."

- Penny Boldrey

"Never give up. Never give in. Never, ever, ever give up."

"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."

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

"I can and I will."

"I had cancer, cancer never had me."

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

"It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars."

"Cancer cannot cripple love, it cannot shatter hope, it cannot conquer the spirit."

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

"When it rains, look for rainbows. When it's dark, look for stars."

"When I was diagnosed with Prostate cancer the SECOND time, I was defeated. But overnight God whispered that He did not create me to be a defeated person, but a winner. So, I put on the armor of God and went to battle. Created a battle plan between my oncologist, people that would uphold me and of course the Lord. “This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army, (cancer) for the battle does not belong to you, but to God.” 2 Chronicles 20:15. There is my hope!"

"Small steps every day."

"Optimism: someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster; it's more like a cha-cha."

"Good thoughts only."

"Don't look back. You're not going that way."

"Broken crayons still color."

"Today will never come again. Be a blessing. Be a friend. Encourage someone. Take time to care. Let your words heal, and not wound."

"God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, or sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way."

"Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."

"I HAVE CANCER….BUT CANCER DOESN'T HAVE ME."

"One day at a time! I can only do this by getting through each day the best I can, then through the night, and when tomorrow comes, I start over!"

"Remember you are the one fighting the battle – and it is up to you how you fight. Never give up on yourself no matter what others say!"

"You have cancer….but it doesn’t have YOU."

"When I was diagnosed with breast cancer same breast 2nd time I said “I am not going down without a fight”"

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass It's about learning how to DANCE IN THE RAIN"

"TAKE RISKS: If you win, you will be happy; if you lose you will be wise."

"Cancer is so limited...It cannot cripple love. It cannot shatter hope. It cannot corrode faith. It cannot eat away peace. It cannot destroy confidence. It cannot kill friendship. It cannot shut out memories. It cannot silence courage. It cannot reduce eternal life. It cannot quench the Spirit."

"You are loved You are wonderfully made. You are beautiful. You are a masterpiece. God has a great plan for you."

"Don't lose hope. When the sun goes down, the stars come out."

- Unknown

"You can't smooth out the surf, but you can learn to ride the waves."

"Remember: you're not dying from cancer . . . You're LIVING with it."

"Life is so much brighter when we focus on what truly matters ..."

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over it became a butterfly."

"Be thankful for this day."

"We may have cancer, but cancer doesn't have us."

"Faith is daring to go beyond what the eyes can see."

"We can only appreciate the miracle of the sunrise if we have waited in the darkness. Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible."

"Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord."

"You’re a victor over all circumstances with your faith and we stand with you!"

"We can't always choose the music life plays for us, but we can choose how we dance to it."

"You are not your Cancer"

"You are NOT a statistic."

"Remember the person going through cancer still exists-talk to them as you would normally before their diagnosis. They do not want to be treated as if you are walking on eggshells around them. Be sensitive but be normal."

"Give me the strength and clarity of mind to find my purpose and walk the path you’ve laid out for me."

"You don’t know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have."

- Unknown

"Live your life, and not the disease."

"Things seem so different now, but I’ll /we’ll be with you no mater what…"

"You may see me struggle…but you will never see me quit."

"At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the sturdiest trees are found."

"Life is like the ocean. It can be calm or still, and rough or rigid, but in the end, it is always beautiful."

"Don’t lose hope. When the sun goes down, the stars come out."

- Unknown

"The darkest hour is always the one before the dawn."

"DO NOT EVER SAY, “Everything will be OK.” That feels cheap and annoying and untrue."

"Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations."