50 Inspirational Quotes on Stress to Empower and Uplift You

"The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another."

- William James

"There is no such thing as a stress-free life. No evidence has ever been presented which suggests that a stress-free life can ever be achieved. Stress can be managed, relieved and lessened, but never eliminated."

- Gudjon Bergmann

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

- Albert Einstein

"Remember that stress doesn't come from what's going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what's going on in your life."

- Andrew J. Bernstein

"Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There's going to be stress in life, but it's your choice whether you let it affect you or not."

- Valerie Bertinelli

"It’s not stress that kills us, it’s our reaction to it."

- Hans Selye

"The truth is that stress doesn’t come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about your circumstances."

- Andrew Bernstein

"If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment."

- Marcus Aurelius

"If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it."

- George Burns

"The life of inner peace, being harmonious and without stress, is the easiest type of existence."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"Everyone has the ability to increase resilience to stress. It requires hard work and dedication, but over time, you can equip yourself to handle whatever life throws your way without adverse effects to your health. Training your brain to manage stress won't just affect the quality of your life, but perhaps even the length of it."

- Amy Morin

"I can't stress this enough: The single thing that will guarantee a happy, fulfilled, and calmer life is the quality of your human relationships, especially the people you love and who love you back."

- Joanna Coles

"Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it."

- Hans Selye

"One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress."

- Viggo Mortensen

"Stress is a downward spiral, and you can only overcome it with a positive perspective."

- Jen Lilley

"Letting go helps us to to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress."

- Melody Beattie

"Your mindset matters. It affects everything - from the business and investment decisions you make, to the way you raise your children, to your stress levels and overall well-being."

- Peter Diamandis

"Being in control of your life and having realistic expectations about your day-to-day challenges are the keys to stress management, which is perhaps the most important ingredient to living a happy, healthy and rewarding life."

- Marilu Henner

"Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down."

- Natalie Goldberg

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Stress can result in anxiety if handled poorly, or achievement if handled well. Instead of thinking about your worries as problems, think of them as challenges – and if possible, as opportunities."

- Chelsea Erieau

"Much of the stress that people feel doesn’t come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they’ve started."

- David Allen

"When you find yourself stressed, ask yourself one question: Will this matter in 5 years from now? If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go."

- Catherine Pulsifer

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

- Mother Teresa

"Stress and worry, they solve nothing. What they do is block creativity. You are not even able to think about the solutions. Every problem has a solution."

- Susan L. Taylor

"Times of stress are also times that are signals for growth, and if we use adversity properly, we can grow through adversity."

- Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski

"You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside."

- Wayne Dyer

"Stress is not what happens to us. It’s our response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose."

- Maureen Killoran

"You can do anything but not everything."

- David Allen

"You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Stress is largely self-inflicted, so the ability to manage stress more effectively comes from managing oneself."

- Michael Hetherington

"My key to dealing with stress is simple: just stay cool and stay focused."

- Ashton Eaton

"Training gives us an outlet for suppressed energies created by stress and thus tones the spirit just as exercise conditions the body."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Stress acts as an accelerator: it will push you either forward or backward, but you choose which direction."

- Chelsea Erieau

"The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it."

- Sydney J. Harris

"We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it."

- John Newton

"Mental health awareness doesn’t mean fighting stress, anxiety, depression and other everyday mental health issues, rather it means consciously modulating the habits that intensify those issues. Once you are in control of your habits, instead of checking your habits, you would automatically be in a much better shape, both mentally and physically."

- Abhijit Naskar

"It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoe."

- Robert W. Service

"To experience peace does not mean that your life is always blissful. It means that you are capable of tapping into a blissful state of mind amidst the normal chaos of a hectic life."

- Jill Botte Taylor

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."

- John Lubbock

"Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff."

- Robert Eliot

"There is a tonic strength, in the hour of sorrow and affliction, in escaping from the world and society and getting back to the simple duties and interests we have slighted and forgotten. Our world grows smaller, but it grows dearer and greater. Simple things have a new charm for us, and we suddenly realize that we have been renouncing all that is greatest and best, in our pursuit of some phantom."

- William George Jordan

"Stress is the trash of modern life–we all generate it, but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life."

- Danzae Pace

"Don’t believe every worried thought you have. Worried thoughts are notoriously inaccurate."

- Renee Jain

"These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb."

- Najwa Zebian

"Stress, anxiety, and depression are caused when we are living to please others."

- Paulo Coelho

"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago."

- E. Joseph Cossman

"In times of life crisis, whether wildfires or smoldering stress, the first thing I do is go back to basics … am I eating right, am I getting enough sleep, am I getting some physical and mental exercise every day?"

- Edward Albert

"Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it."

- Kahlil Gibran

"Stress is like spice – in the right proportion, it enhances the flavour of a dish. Too little produces a bland, dull meal; too much may choke you."

- Donald Tubesing

"If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person."

- Seneca

"No beating yourself up. That’s not allowed. Be patient with yourself. It took you years to form the bad habits of thought that you no longer want. It will take a little time to form new and better ones. But I promise you this: Even a slight move in this direction will bring you some peace. The more effort you apply to it, the faster you’ll find your bliss, but you’ll experience rewards immediately."

- Holly Mosier

"Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be."

- Eckhart Tolle

"You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather."

- Pema Chödrön

"Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles."

- Charlie Chaplin

"In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go."

- Jack Kornfield

"Every moment is a fresh beginning."

- T.S. Eliot

"Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. The best is yet to come."

- Zig Ziglar

"Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is."

- Anne Frank

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

- A.A. Milne

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

- Ernest Hemingway

"It is the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting."

- Paulo Coehlo

"Where there’s life there’s hope."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

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

- Sophia Bush

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

- Albert Camus

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."

- Maya Angelou

"Sometimes in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in perspective."

- Colleen Hoover

"Be patient. Sometimes you have to go through the worst to get to the best. Give time some time."

- Karen Salmansohn

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

- Louisa May Alcott

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% of how you react."

- Charles R. Swindoll

"There’s always a way through every challenge. You need a heart full of commitment. A lens focused on positivity. And a willingness to travel unexplored paths. Faith forward. You’ll get there."

- Karen Salmansohn

"We don’t even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward."

- Isabel Allende

"You will come across obstacles in life—fair and unfair. and you will discover, time and time again, that what matters most is not what these obstacles are, but how we see them, how we react to them, and whether we keep our composure."

- Ryan Holiday

"It’s not the events of our lives that shape us, but our beliefs as to what those events mean."

- Tony Robbins

"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure."

- Oprah Winfrey

"The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom."

- James Allen

"Once you accept, truly accept, that stuff will happen to you and there is nothing you can do about it, stress miraculously leaves your life."

- Srikumar Rao

"Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life."

- Andrew J. Bernstein

"I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear."

- Steve Maraboli

"All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for."

- Jon Kabat-Zinn

"I tune it all out because if I let other people's stress get to me, then I stress myself out more than I need to."

- Simone Biles

"Stress should be a powerful driving force, not an obstacle."

- Bill Phillips

"Tension is a habit. Relaxing is a habit. Bad habits can be broken, good habits formed."

- William James

"A good way to overcome stress is to help others out of theirs."

- Dada J. P. Vaswani

"The next time you are tempted to get anxious or upset about something – especially something in the past or the future – think about what you are doing and turn your mind to what is going on today."

- Joyce Meyers

"Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax."

- Bryant McGill

"What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain."

- Maya Angelou

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

- Thich Nhat Hanh

"There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm."

- Willa Cather

"Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight."

- Benjamin Franklin

"Stop a minute, right where you are. Relax your shoulders, shake your head and spine like a dog shaking off cold water. Tell that imperious voice in your head to be still."

- Barbara Kingsolver

"Take chances, make mistakes–that is how we grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave."

- Mary Tyler Moore

"In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive."

- Lee Iacocca

"Just enjoy every moment - don't stress. Just be yourself."

- Mabel

"Well, you know, a lot of people look at the negative things, the things that they did wrong and - which I do. But I like to stress on the things I did right, because there are certain things that I like to look at from a positive standpoint that are just positive reinforcement."

- Tiger Woods

"Many of us feel stress and get overwhelmed not because we're taking on too much, but because we're taking on too little of what really strengthens us."

- Marcus Buckingham

"… for a man that flies from his fear may find that he has only taken a shortcut to meet it."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

"Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline."

- Jim Collins

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

- Confucius

"Let nothing due to a cause outside yourself disturb your calm."

- Marcus Aurelius

"Tough times never last, but tough people do."

- Robert Schuller

"You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one, each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle."

- Paulo Coelho

"​​The bad days are more important than the good days. If you write or exercise or meditate or cook when you don’t feel like it, then you maintain the habit. And if you maintain the habit, then all you need is time."

- James Clear

"You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step."

- Martin Luther King

"Getting stress out of your life takes more than prayer alone. You must take action to make changes and stop doing whatever is causing the stress. You can learn to calm down in the way you handle things."

- Joyce Meyer

"Breath is the power behind all things…. I breathe in and know that good things will happen."

- Tao Porchon-Lynch

"We can boost our immune systems by strengthening our social networks and decreasing stress."

- Jane McGonigal

"The thing that you think is imperfect about you is the thing that makes you who you are. It separates you from everybody else. I have a scar on my lip, and for years I hated it. But now its become my thing. It's like, without it, I'm not me. You can't be perfect, so enjoy your imperfections. I can't stress that enough."

- Terry Crews

"I think that whenever you feel reactive or are being reactive as opposed to proactive, that inherently - consciously or subconsciously - creates a lot of stress."

- Tim Ferriss

"Even in the growth mindset, failure can be a painful experience. But it doesn’t define you. It’s a problem to be faced, dealt with, and learned from."

- Carol Dweck

"God will never give you anything you can't handle, so don't stress."

- Kelly Clarkson

"Enjoy the pressure. Enjoy the stress. Enjoy being uncomfortable. And don't shy away from it, embrace it."

- Gary Woodland

"If you wouldn't worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Future shock is the shattering stress and disorientation that we induce in individuals by subjecting them to too much change in too short a time."

- Alvin Toffler

"When you do something beautiful, and nobody noticed, do not be sad, for the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle, yet most of the audience still sleeps."

- John Lennon

"If you don’t try at anything you can’t fail… it takes backbone to lead the life you want."

- Richard Yates

"Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it's the time when they most need to think."

- William J. Clinton

"Smiling can be infectious in a workplace to help reduce stress, to help teamwork, to defuse high-pressure situations. The more you smile, the more people will smile back."

- Byron Pulsifer

"There is no good day or bad day, only good or bad actions."

- Amit Kalantri

"The day she let go of the things that were weighing her down, was the day she began to shine the brightest."

- Katrina Mayer

"We are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day."

- Brad Meltzer

"Failure is the caterpillar. Success is the butterfly."

- Peta Kelly

"Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it."

- Lily Tomlin

"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

- Aesop

"It’s the will, not the skill."

- Jim Tunney

"Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering."

- Winnie the Pooh

"Don’t plant your bad days. They grow into weeks. The weeks grow into months."

- Tom Waits

"Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart."

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness."

- Carl G. Jung

"Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness. Not through insensibility but through greatness of mind."

- Aristotle

"I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did not relieve."

- Montesquieu

"Relax. No one else knows what they’re doing either."

- Ricky Gervais

"Some days are just bad days, that’s all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that’s just the way it is!"

- Dita Von Teese

"Everyone goes through bad days, but that does not mean you should stop enjoying the good days."

- S. Sreesanth

"Everyone has their good and bad days. You just have to go with the flow and make the most of whatever comes your way."

- Andrea Jeremiah

"There cannot be a stressful crisis next week. My schedule is already full."

- Henry Kissinger

"If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself."

- Rick Riordan

"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."

- Elbert Hubbard

"Calmness is the cradle of power."

- J.G. Holland

"The tempests of life can die down as though they had never been."

- F.M. Mayor

"We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie."

- David Mamet

"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."

- Mother Teresa

"I don't worry about stress. I create it."

- Jim Mattis

"It’s impossible to swim, bike and run for the best part of a day and not experience bad times."

- Chrissie Wellington

"The rising costs of higher education coupled with the stress of paying student loans are putting increasing pressure on students."

- Hank Johnson

"There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea."

- Bernard-Paul Heroux

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but doing something in spite of fear."