50 Inspirational Stress Quotes to Empower and Uplift Your Spirit

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

- Chelsea Erieau

"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

"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

"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

"We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"You can do anything but not everything."

- David Allen

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

- Michael Hetherington

"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

"In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

- Albert Einstein

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

- Maureen Killoran

"Keep calm and carry on."

- Winston S. Churchill

"What worries you masters you."

- John Locke

"Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future."

- Deepak Chopra

"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

"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

"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

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

- Thich Nhat Hanh

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

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

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

- Bryant McGill

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

- Mother Teresa

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

- Najwa Zebian

"Every day brings a choice: to practice stress or to practice peace."

- Joan Borysenko

"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

"More smiling, less worrying. More compassion, less judgment. More blessed, less stressed. More love, less hate."

- Roy T. Bennett

"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

"If the problem can be solved, why worry? If the problem cannot be solved, worrying will do you no good."

- Shantideva

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

- Oprah Winfrey

"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

"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

"Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"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

"Stress is not caused by what happens to you, but by your thoughts about what happens to you."

- Kelly McGonigal

"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

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

- Robert Eliot

"In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts."

- Fred Rogers

"The only way to deal with stress is to accept it, embrace it, and work with it."

- Jon Kabat-Zinn

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

- Hans Selye

"The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it's your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can't package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking."

- Wayne Dyer

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

- Hans Selye

"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

"Stress is not caused by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us."

- Kelly McGonigal

"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

"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

"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

"The secret to dealing with stress is to accept it and then let it go."

- Deepak Chopra

"You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway."

- Steve Maraboli

"Stress is not what happens to us. It's our perception of what happens to us."

- Wayne Dyer

"Stress is a state of mind. It's up to you to decide how you want to react to it."

- Wayne Dyer

"Stress is not the enemy. It is a signal that we need to make some changes in our lives."

- Hans Selye

"Stress is like a wave. It comes and goes. We can't stop the waves, but we can learn to surf them."

- Jon Kabat-Zinn

"The greatest gift you can give yourself is peace of mind."

- Lao Tzu

"Stress is not what happens to us. It's our response to what happens to us."

- Hans Selye

"The only way to be happy is to live in the present moment, and to accept it as it is."

- Eckhart Tolle

"Stress is a part of life, but it doesn't have to control it. You can choose how you respond to it."

- Sam Altman

"Stress is not what happens to us. It's our thoughts about what happens to us."

- Kelly McGonigal

"Stress is an inevitable part of life. But it doesn't have to control you. You can choose how you react to it."

- Tim Ferriss

"Stress is not what happens to you, but how you choose to react to it."

- Judy Blume

"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

"You are not your thoughts. You are not your emotions. You are the observer of your thoughts and emotions."

- Eckhart Tolle

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

- William James

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

- Norman Vincent Peale

"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

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

- Bill Phillips

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

- Sydney J. Harris

"Money doesn't mean anything to me. I've made a lot of money, but I want to enjoy life and not stress myself building my bank account. I give lots away and live simply, mostly out of a suitcase in hotels. We all know that good health is much more important."

- Keanu Reeves

"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

"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

"Today, expect something good to happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday. Realize the past no longer holds you captive. It can only continue to hurt you if you hold on to it."

- Sarah Ban Breathnach

"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

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

- Ashton Eaton

"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

"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

"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

"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

"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

"You can do anything, but not everything."

- David Allen

"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

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

- Martin Luther King Jr.

"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

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

- Tao Porchon-Lynch

"Every day, think as you wake up, ‘I am fortunate to be alive. I have a precious human life. I am not going to waste it."

- Dalai Lama

"Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it."

- Dorothy M. Neddermeyer

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

- Sydney J. Harris

"Stress is caused by being 'here' but wanting to be 'there'."

- Eckhart Tolle

"Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one."

- Hans Selye

"Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it."

- Brian Tracy

"Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are."

- Chinese proverb

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."

- Leo Buscaglia

"Stress is an alarm clock that lets you know you're attached to something not true for you."

- Byron Katie

"The only way to deal with fear is to face it head on. No matter how deep it is. You are stronger than it."

- Chalene Johnson

"Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer."

- William S. Burroughs

"Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop."

- Ovid

"Don't let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries."

- Astrid Alauda

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

- Katrina Mayer

"You don't always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens."

- Mandy Hale

"The mind should be allowed some relaxation, that it may return to its work all the better for the rest."

- Seneca

"Worrying is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere."

- Glenn Turner

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

- Norman Vincent Peale

"The only way to limit the amount of time you spend on stress is to limit the amount of time you spend thinking about things you can't control."

- Robert L. Stevenson

"You can't control the stress that comes your way, but you can control the way you handle it."

- Ursula Corbero

"Stress is caused by being "here" but wanting to be "there.""

- Eckhart Tolle

"Stress is not the problem. The problem is our reaction to stress."

- Richard Carlson

"Stress is not what happens to us, it's how we choose to react to what happens to us."

- Bill Cosby

"Stress is a normal and often healthy emotion. It gives us the energy and motivation to tackle challenges and achieve our goals. However, when stress becomes excessive, it can lead to a variety of health problems, including anxiety, depression, and heart disease. It is important to find healthy ways to manage stress, such as exercise, relaxation techniques, and spending time with loved ones."

- American Psychological Association

"Don't let the stress of yesterday spoil the joy of today."

- Kalon D. Quagliana

"Stress is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere."

- Glenn Turner

"Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe."

- Mark Twain

"Don't let stress steal your joy."

- Joel Osteen

"Don't worry about things you can't control. Focus on the things you can."

- John Wooden

"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

"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

"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

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

- Jon Kabat-Zinn

"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

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

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"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

"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

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

- Jen Lilley

"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

"The number one root of all illness, as we know, is stress."

- Marianne Williamson

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

- Mabel

"'Sunrise Sunset' is about trying to get to a place where life is simple and not letting the stress and happenings in the world get in the way of your happiness."

- Benny Cassette

"The best way to predict the future is to create it."

- Peter Drucker

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

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Stress and looks are directly connected as far as I am concerned. If you are happy, you look good."

- Mahesh Babu

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

- Lily Tomlin

"It's a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life."

- Paulo Coelho

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

- Ricky Gervais

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."

- Steve Jobs

"Entrepreneurship is really hard and painful - I'm not sure I'd recommend it for anyone who can't handle the extreme stress."

- Naval Ravikant

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

- Walt Disney

"Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff."

- Robert Schuller

"I like to meditate. But I get rid of my stress at the gym."

- Jason Statham

"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

"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

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

- William J. Clinton

"I can't stress the importance of working hard enough, work on all aspects of your game. If you does that and you have the ability, you'll come through."

- Frank Lampard

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

- Elbert Hubbard

"I've learned over the years that if you start thinking about the race, it stresses you out a little bit. I just try to relax and think about video games, what I'm gonna do after the race, what I'm gonna do just to chill. Stuff like that to relax a little before the race."

- Usain Bolt

"Singing is kind of like stress relief and everything just kind of makes sense when I'm doing this."

- Rose

"Calmness is the cradle of power."

- J.G. Holland

"I can't stress to you enough how much I can relate to teens being cyberbullied. Something that helps me is looking at old videos of me and my friends from middle school, or videos of my family. I love watching funny videos of my favorite people - it really cheers me up."

- Ariana Grande

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

- Aesop

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

- Montesquieu

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

- Aristotle

"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

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

- Hank Johnson

"Poverty entails fear and stress and sometimes depression. It meets a thousand petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts that is something on which to pride yourself but poverty itself is romanticized by fools."

- J. K. Rowling

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

- Henry Kissinger

"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

"I enjoy an evening stroll. It helps me to reflect and eases stress."

- Blac Chyna

"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

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

- Robert W. Service

"The only way to deal with an uncooperative world is to become an uncooperative person."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"I think extreme sports are really good for relieving stress."

- Dave Chappelle

"There's a lot of stress... but once you get in the car, all that goes out the window."

- Dan Brown

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

- Jim Mattis

"No matter how civilized we are and how much society has curbed violent behavior. Human beings still have the same genes they had 10,000 years ago. Our bodies are designed to have a certain amount of physical stress and violence in them. We're designed to run from jaguars and fight to defend our territory."

- Joe Rogan

"Oh, Instagram stresses me out on a very deep level!"

- SZA

"In my youth I stressed freedom, and in my old age I stress order. I have made the great discovery that liberty is a product of order."

- Will Durant

"If there is no word that means you don't have the concept. In North Korea they eliminate the words: depression, stress, dictatorship, human rights. You cannot think of those. That's why all the brainwashing was possible."

- Park Yeon-mi

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

- Bernard-Paul Heroux

"There is one thing I should say, and it's important: Young Broadway singers and anybody who is an orator of any kind - lawyers who have to speak in court or pastors or anyone who has a lot of stress on their vocal cords: You should do the maintenance. You should do whatever it takes to feel fresh and good."

- Julie Andrews

"If love does not know how to give and take without restrictions, it is not love, but a transaction that never fails to lay stress on a plus and a minus."

- Emma Goldman

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

- David Mamet

"Like all weak men he laid an exaggerated stress on not changing one's mind."

- W. Somerset Maugham

"I asked long ago,'What must I do to be saved?' The Scripture answered, 'Keep the commandments, believe, hope, love.' I was early warned against laying, as the Papists do, too much stress on outward works, or on a faith without works, which as it does not include, so it will never lead to true hope or charity."

- John Wesley

"I always have stress."

- Takashi Murakami

"The earth is bountiful, and where her bounty fails, nitrogen drawn from the air will refertilize her womb. I developed a process for this purpose in 1900. It was perfected fourteen years later under the stress of war by German chemists."

- Nikola Tesla

"The goal of the revolution is to achieve the people's rights, but during the course of the revolution, we must stress military power - and the two are mutually contradictory."

- Sun Yat-sen

"Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax."

"The secret to getting ahead is getting started."

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly."

"Stress is a powerful motivator. It can help us to focus and achieve our goals. However, too much stress can be harmful to our physical and mental health. It is important to find healthy ways to manage stress, such as exercise, meditation, and spending time with loved ones."

"You are stronger than you think you are. You can handle whatever comes your way."

"Take a deep breath and let it all go. You're doing the best you can."

"Don't stress. Do your best. Forget the rest."

"Stress is a part of life, but it doesn't have to control it. We can choose to be happy and grateful, even in the midst of difficult circumstances."

"Stress is a part of life, but it doesn't have to define you. You can choose how to react to it and how to let it affect you."

"Stress is not what happens to you, it's how you choose to react to it. Choose wisely."

"Don't let stress steal your peace."

"It's okay to not be okay. Take care of yourself and reach out for help when you need it."

"Stress is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs, but eventually it comes to an end."

"Stress is not what happens to you, it's how you choose to react to it. Choose to be positive and resilient."

"Stress is a part of life, but it doesn't have to control it. You are stronger than you think you are."

"It's okay to not be okay. Take a deep breath and let yourself feel your emotions. But don't stay there. Find healthy ways to cope with your stress."

"You are not alone in this. Everyone experiences stress from time to time. Reach out to your support system for help."

"Remember, stress is temporary. It may not feel like it right now, but you will get through this."

"Be kind to yourself. You are doing the best you can."