50 Inspirational Quotes to Lift Your Spirits When You're Feeling Down

"You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody."

- Maya Angelou

"Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world."

- Harriet Tubman

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

- J.K. Rowling

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

- Oliver Goldsmith

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

- Albert Camus

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain."

- Kahlil Gibran

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

- Albert Camus

"When you’re happy, you enjoy the music but when you’re sad, you understand the lyrics."

- Frank Ocean

"Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway."

- Earl Nightingale

"Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart."

- José N. Harris

"Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts."

- Charles Dickens

"Grief knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can; and common sufferings are far stronger links than common joys."

- Alphonse de Lamartine

"I’ll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. Still does."

- Lilly Singh

"Depression is being colorblind and constantly told how colorful the world is."

- Henry Rollins

"You are living. You occupy space. You have a mass. You matter."

- Albert Einstein

"Every situation in life is temporary. So, when life is good, make sure you enjoy and receive it fully. And when life is not so good, remember that it will not last forever and better days are on the way."

- Jenni Young

"That's the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it's impossible to ever see the end."

- Elizabeth Wurtzel

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

- A.A. Milne

"Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced... It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again."

- J.K. Rowling

"It’s amazing how someone can break your heart and you can still love them with all the little pieces."

- Ella Harper

"No matter what people tell you, words and ideas can change the world."

- Robin Williams

"So it’s true when all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love."

- E.A. Bucchianeri

"Tonight I can write the saddest lines, I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too."

- Pablo Neruda

"Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh."

- Henry David Thoreau

"It’s so devastating to come to terms with speaking of someone in past tense when you used to see them as your present and your future."

- Taylor Swift

"I release feelings inside me through my songs. I take some of the sadness, some of the heartache, and turn it out."

- Ray Charles

"Words are tears that have been written down. Tears are words that need to be shed. Without them, joy loses all its brilliance and sadness has no end."

- Paulo Coelho

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream."

- C.S. Lewis

"Turn your wounds into wisdom."

- Oprah Winfrey

"Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to."

- Fred Rogers

"This genuine heart of sadness can teach us great compassion."

- Pema Chödrön

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

- Socrates

"When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place."

- Elizabeth Gilbert

"Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito."

- Dalai Lama

"Dream big dreams! Imagine that you have no limitations and then decide what’s right before you decide what’s possible."

- Brian Tracy

"Loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself."

- Rupi Kaur

"For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’"

- John Greenleaf Whittier

"A wound that goes unacknowledged and unwept is a wound that cannot heal."

- John Eldredge

"We all yearn for what we have lost. But sometimes, we forget what we have."

- Mitch Albom

"There’s a sorrow and pain in everyone’s life, but every now and then there’s a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed."

- Hubert Selby Jr.

"Being in the depths of sadness is just as important an experience as being exuberantly happy."

- Marlene Dietrich

"The lessons we learn in sadness and from loss are those that abide."

- Theodore T. Munger

"Perhaps somewhere, someplace deep inside your being, you have undergone important changes while you were sad."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Depression, suffering and anger are all part of being human."

- Atticus

"Depression is melancholy minus its charms."

- Susan Sontag

"Depression is like a bruise that never goes away. A bruise in your mind."

- Jeffrey Eugenides

"It is sad not to love, but it is much sadder not to be able to love."

- Miguel de Unamuno

"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

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

- Victor Hugo

"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."

- Kahlil Gibran

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends."

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Les Miserables

"Your sadness is a gift. Don’t reject it. Don’t rush it. Live it fully and use it as fuel to change and grow."

- Maxime Lagacé

"Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form."

- Rumi

"The darker the night, the brighter the stars."

- Fyodor Dostoevsky

"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

"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."

- Romans 15:13

"When my anxiety is really bad, I sing a Bob Marley song in my head over and over again: 'Don't worry about a thing, cause every little thing gonna be alright'."

- Bob Marley

"Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and oftentimes we call a man cold, when he is only sad."

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way."

- Napoleon Hill

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

- Walt Whitman

"It’s the heart, afraid of breaking / That never learns to dance."

- Bette Midler

"Crying is cleansing. There’s a reason for tears, happiness or sadness."

- Dionne Warwick

"It’s sad, something coming to an end. It cracks you open, in a way — cracks you open to feeling. When you try to avoid the pain, it creates greater pain."

- Jennifer Aniston

"The perfected future never arrives. Life is full of seemingly endless trouble, and then life ends. Find peace in the imperfect present."

- The Stoic Emperor

"The good life is not one immune to sadness but one in which suffering contributes to our development."

- Alain de Botton

"Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."

- Marilyn Monroe

"Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water."

- Christopher Morley

"Remember that no relationship is a total waste of time. You can always learn something about yourself."

- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

"Almost all of our sorrows spring out of our relations with other people."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

"The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too."

- Ernest Hemingway

"Whatever you are, be a good one."

- Abraham Lincoln

"Those who do not weep, do not see."

- Victor Hugo

"Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody."

- Stephen Chbosky

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart."

- Confucius

"The heart was made to be broken."

- Oscar Wilde

"Respect yourself enough to say I deserve peace. Walk away from people or things that prevent you from attaining it."

- Jericho Silvers

"Love is the best medicine for all kinds of pain in the world but there is no medicine in the world for the pain given by Love."

- Mano

"When one has lost a friend, one's eyes should be neither dry nor streaming. Tears, yes, there should be, but not lamentation."

- Seneca

"No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow."

- Alice Walker

"If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain."

- Emily Dickinson

"When I feel a little low, I put on my favorite high heels to stand a little taller."

- Dolly Parton

"Ever has it been that friendship knows not its own depth until the hour of separation."

- Kahlil Gibran

"Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep."

- Clive Barker

"The wrong person will give you less than what you're worth but that doesn't mean that you have to accept it."

- Sonya Parker

"It takes longer to build a relationship than it does to destroy one."

- Matshona Dhliwayo

"For lack of an occasional expression of love, a relationship strong at the seams can wear thin in the middle."

- Robert Brault

"Relationships fail because people take their own insecurities and try and twist them into their partner's flaws."

- Baylor Barbee

"Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way."

- Charles Kingsley

"Friendship is delicate as a glass, once broken, it can be fixed, but there will always be cracks."

- Waqar Ahmed

"Life without a friend is like death without a witness."

- Spanish Proverb

"The hottest love has the coldest end."

- Socrates

"Chasing happiness is guaranteed to make you unhappy."

- Ed Latimore

"You get used to sadness, growing up in the mountains, I guess."

- Loretta Lynn

"Sometimes sitting and doing nothing is the best something you can do."

- Karen Salmansohn

"The wound is the place where the Light enters you."

- Rumi

"Sadness flies away on the wings of time."

- Jean de La Fontaine

"Tears come from the heart and not from the brain."

- Leonardo da Vinci

"Sad hurts, but it’s a healthy feeling."

- J.K. Rowling

"It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."

- William Blake

"True friends stab you in the front."

- Oscar Wilde

"Life hurts a lot more than death."

- Goru

"And then there is me, always waiting for you."

- J. H. Hard

"She healed her own brokenness."

- R. H. Sin

"The best way to remain in your relationship is to keep other people out of your relationship."

- Carlos Wallace

"Let it hurt until it can’t hurt anymore."

- Liam Ryan

"We forge the chains we wear in life."

- Charles Dickens

"I just hope my death makes more cents than my life."

- The Joker (Arthur Fleck)

"Someday, everything will make sense. So for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason."

"If sometimes all you want is for someone to acknowledge just how difficult struggling with depression is, then here’s your acknowledgement. We understand, and we’re proud of you for not giving up."

"MYTH: You will be depressed forever. FACT: With the right help, you can beat your depression and go on to live a happy, healthy, fulfilling life."

"Depression is a war. Don’t give up just because you lost a battle."

"Maybe not today, tomorrow, or even in a year, but if you keep fighting and never give up, then things will eventually turn around, and you’ll be able to look back with relief and shout, ‘Yes! I made it!’"

"No one is ever too broken, too scarred or too far-gone to recover. If you keep on fighting, then anything’s possible."

"Remember: Your depression does not define you. Your strength and your courage does."

"Whatever you do, never forget that you’re human. It’s OK to have a meltdown. Just don’t unpack and live there. Cry it out and then refocus on where you are heading."

"Sometimes the hardest part of the journey is believing you’re worth the trip – but we’re here to tell you that you are."

"No matter who gives up on you, don’t you ever give up on yourself."

"Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remind yourself how far you have come. Remind yourself of everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome."

"It is not weak to say, “I’m not OK, and I need help”. On the contrary, it is brave. It is courageous. And in the end, it could save your life."

"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."

"Things may seem gloomy ahead and you may feel like giving up, but if you don’t keep going, then you will never know what is just around the corner."

"If you’re thinking about giving up today, just live until tomorrow. And when you do, read this again."

"If you’ve ever had suicidal thoughts, then we’re glad you’re still here. Keep holding on."

"It’s hard for a person to beat depression, but it’s even harder for depression to beat a person who never gives up."

"Would you be as critical to your loved ones as you are to yourself? That’s what we thought. Please, be kind to yourself."

"Eat like you love yourself, move like you love yourself, speak like you love yourself, and act like you love yourself."

"If you’re feeling suicidal, write down your dreams. Block everything else out and picture them coming true. Use them as reasons to keep on fighting."

"Life has many chapters, and one bad one does not mean that it’s the end of the book."

"One of the most dangerous myths surrounding depression is that it is a life sentence, when in reality, if you seek the right help and keep on fighting, you CAN recover, and live a happy, healthy, depression-free life."

"No matter how far you’ve travelled down the wrong road, you can always turn around and get back on the right track."

"When you focus on problems, you’ll have more problems. When you focus on possibilities, you’ll have more opportunities."

"Hating yourself will never, ever get you as far as loving yourself will."

"When you find the courage to let go of what you can’t change, you’ll take a giant leap forward in your quest to recover from depression."

"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it, but if you never give up, you will get there eventually."

"Recovery sometimes involves doing what you should do instead of what you want to do. But in the end, it is so, so worth it."

"Always look for something positive in each day ... even if some days you need to look a little harder than others."

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

"This too shall pass. Got me through the deepest depression I have ever experienced."

"I have a tattoo of a bow & arrow as a reminder that when life pulls you back, it’s just preparing to launch you into something great."

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

"I make a point to remind myself: 'you will not get better with shame ... you will get better with love'."

"I try to remind myself that my current situation is not my final destination. I try to remind myself of the things I've already come through that I thought I would not make it through but I did."

"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."

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

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

"Never forget that H.O.P.E. stands for "Hold On, Pain Ends"."

"You deserve as much love and support as anybody else."

"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."

"Try not to be discouraged by setbacks. Instead, try to be encouraged by the fact that you have the chance to overcome them."

"One day, you’ll wake up and realise that the pain’s still there but that it doesn’t hurt quite as much as it used to. That’s when you’re on the road to healing."

"Making mistakes does not mean you’ve failed. Rather, it means you had the courage to try, and if you learn from those mistakes, then you’ll soon succeed."

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

"Admitting that you’re not OK is NOT a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of self-awareness, maturity, and emotional strength."

"Hit the ground and choose to bounce back. We always have two options in every step of life so always choose to bounce back."

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

"Try not to get so comfortable with your demons that you accept them as being a part of you. Instead, seek help so that you can work on liberating yourself from them."

"Hope and depression are bitter rivals until one, always and inevitably, defeats the other."

"Instead of always focusing on how far you have left to go, make sure you also remember how far you have come."

"Guilt is toxic. Reliving the same mistake over and over again is torture. Constantly criticising and blaming yourself is bullying. Break free of this cycle. Reflect. Learn. Grow. Love yourself. Forgive yourself."

"Having depression is NOT a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of being human, and anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t understand this illness."

"Don’t be ashamed of the times you fell. Instead, be proud of all the times you got back up."

"If you do everything you can to keep on fighting, then even if they don’t tell you, there’ll be people who’ll find your plight with depression inspiring."

"You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it."

"In case no one told you today: you are beautiful. You are loved. You are needed. You are alive for a reason. You are stronger than you think, and if you keep on fighting, then you’re going to get through this."

"Depression isn’t pretty, but having depression doesn’t make you ugly. Anxiety is a burden, but having anxiety doesn’t make you a burden. Even though you’re struggling right now, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You are so, so much more than your problems, and you are a warrior for continuing to fight them."

"Recovery does not happen linearly. Sometimes you’ll have bad days, sometimes you’ll have setbacks, and sometimes you’ll feel so low and broken that you’ll want to give up. But if you keep taking little steps forward, you’ll eventually get there."

"The most beautiful thing in the world is a smile that has struggled through tears."

"No matter what you’re going through right now, having a positive attitude is going to serve you better than having a negative one."

"It actually was told to me in a different context but really it works here too: 'never quit on a bad day' ... like wait for a good day and see if you still feel the same. This has really helped me through some things."

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit."

"When you’re struggling with depression, it’s really important to schedule some time in for daily self-care that gives you a lift."

"Starting today, stop keeping track of all the mistakes you’ve ever made. It’s time to forgive yourself and start being your own best friend."

"Sometimes it’s OK if the only thing you did today was breathe."

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

"Don’t carry your mistakes around with you. Instead, place them under your feet and use them as stepping stones."

"Life is like a camera: focus on what’s important, capture the good times, develop from the negatives, and if things don’t work out, take another shot."

"Never let someone who doesn’t know your value tell you how much you’re worth."

"Never, ever forget that you are special, and that you touch more lives than you’ll ever know."

"Never forget that walking away from something unhealthy is a very brave thing to do – even if you stumble a little on your way out the door."

"Some days, life is all about your dreams, hopes and vision for the future. But on other days, all it’s about is trying to put one foot in front of the other. And you know what? That’s OK."

"Stop beating yourself up. You are a work in progress, which means you get there a little at a time, not all at once."

"Don’t compare your progress with that of others. After all, we all need our own time to travel our own distance."

"Don’t change so people will like you. Be yourself and the right people will love the real you."

"Just because your path is different, it doesn’t mean you’re lost."

"The past is like an anchor that holds you back. You have to be able to let go of who you were in order to become who you want to be."

"Beautiful things happen when you distance yourself from negativity."

"The world will not end if you do not figure everything out tonight, so stop pacing, stop sweating, and stop fretting. Instead, go to bed and start again tomorrow."

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

"Just because your life may not have turned out the way you’d planned, it doesn’t mean that it won’t turn out OK."

"Being yourself is the prettiest thing you can be."

"Instead of counting your troubles, count all the joys you have in life as well."

"Don’t compare the lowest points of your life to someone else’s Instagram highlight real and use it as a reason to feel inadequate."

"Today, you don’t need to have all the answers. You just need to know what to do next."

"This is just a little reminder that you deserve to be treated as well as you treat everybody else. Don’t accept anything less!"

"It is better to be an imperfect version of yourself than a perfect version of somebody else."

"Someone failing to see the best in you does not diminish your worth as a person."

"Don’t let negative, toxic, insecure people drag you down to their level."

"Being imperfect doesn’t mean you’re unworthy. It means you’re human."

"When I’m feeling depressed and anxious I tend to withdraw and isolate myself ... I can’t reach out to those I love and feel worthless and a burden to them. When this happens, I then try to remember: 'your depression is trying to get you alone and then it will try to kill you'. This helps me remember that’s it’s my depression that’s lying to me and keeping me from reaching out to those I love and who love me."

"I have a friend who is a psychiatrist. He always tells me, 'in the darkest night, the stars are still there, you just can't see them'."

"A psych told me this many years ago and it has kept me going for many years. 'It's ok to feel s**t, give yourself the opportunity to feel s**t, don't fight it!' I learned over the years to give myself care time."

"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."

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

"Never stop doing your best just because someone doesn’t give you credit for it."

"If you can’t figure out where you stand with someone, then it might be time to stop standing and start walking."

"Relationships are like glass – sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than to hurt yourself trying to put them back together."

"Don’t look back, because if you do, you might fall over what is in front of you."

"Doing the best I can ... as long as I can."

"There comes a time when you have to stop crossing oceans for people who wouldn’t jump puddles for you."

"In case you didn’t know: studies show that 80% of the things we worry about happening never actually happen."

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

"In the context of mental health, courage can be defined as the strength to ask for help."

"If you’re going through a hard time right now, make sure you do something today that makes you smile."

"We cannot in a minute get rid of unhealthy habits we’ve been practising for a lifetime. That’s why it takes time for therapy to work."

"Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come."

- Unknown

"If someone doesn’t respect you, appreciate you and value you, then they don’t deserve you."

"What is coming is better than what is gone."

- Unknown

"People who wonder if the glass is half empty or full miss the point. The glass is refillable."

- Unknown

"Is whatever you’re frustrated about worth ruining the hour, the day, the week?"

"Finding the right therapist is a bit like dating ... sometimes you have to try a few before you find a good match."

"The pain you feel today is the strength you feel tomorrow. For every challenge encountered, there is opportunity for growth."

"Normal is a cycle on the washing machine."

"A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under pressure."

"Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting it back together."

"The worst feeling is not being lonely. It's being forgotten by someone you could never forget."

"Sometimes it takes sadness to know happiness, noise to appreciate silence and absence to value presence."

"When you’re depressed you don’t control your thoughts, your thoughts control you. I wish people understood that."