50 Inspiring Quotes About Recovery to Empower Your Journey

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

- Winston Churchill

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

- Oliver Goldsmith

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

- Eleanor Roosevelt

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

- Steve Maraboli

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

- Steve Goodier

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

- Socrates

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

- Marcus Aurelius

"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"I realized that I only had two choices: I was either going to die or I was going to live, and which one did I want to do? And then I said those words, ‘I’ll get help,’ or, ‘I need help. I’ll get help.’ And my life turned around. Ridiculous for a human being to take 16 years to say, ‘I need help.’"

- Elton John

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

- Theodore Roosevelt

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

- Robert Downey Jr.

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

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

- Carl Bard

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

- Craig Ferguson

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

- Tom Stoddart

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

- Robert Downey Jr.

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

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

- Mahatma Gandhi

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

- Steve Maraboli

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

- C.S. Lewis

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

- Benjamin Alire Sáenz

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

- Audre Lorde

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

- Naeem Callaway

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

- Nelson Mandela

"In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s something stronger — something better, pushing right back."

- Albert Camus

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

- Buddhist Proverb

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

- Jeanette LeBlanc

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

- Confucius

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

- Terri Guillemets

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

- Jamie Lee Curtis

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

- Demi Lovato

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

- Shane Niemeyer

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

- Robert Downey Jr.

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

- Robert Collier

"Fall seven times, stand up eight."

- Japanese Proverb

"If it wasn’t for that rehab center, I probably wouldn’t have been here. In terms of recovery, it has been very important for me to be a part of a recovery community, to actively be around my people because they understand me. They get it."

- Macklemore

"You can come out of the furnace of trouble two ways: if you let it consume you, you come out a cinder; but there is a kind of metal which refuses to be consumed, and comes out a star."

- Jean Church

"When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways – either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength. Thanks to the teachings of Buddha, I have been able to take this second way."

- Dalai Lama

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and, above all, confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained."

- Marie Curie

"The best way out is always through."

- Robert Frost

"When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn."

- Harriet Beecher Stowe

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

- Gary Oldman

"And that’s what it’s like for me in recovery at times. Afraid to take on responsibility, new sponsees or something, or allowing myself to stand up and shine… I’ve got new tools, I’ve got new hope, new love, new respect for myself."

- James Hetfield

"Addiction, at its worst, is akin to having Stockholm Syndrome. You're like a hostage who has developed an irrational affection for your captor. They can abuse you, torture you, even threaten to kill you, and you'll remain inexplicably and disturbingly loyal."

- Anne Clendening

"Asking for help is really the beginning of any sort of recovery process."

- Marc Maron

"Recovery is not simple abstinence. It's about healing the brain, remembering how to feel, learning how to make good decisions, becoming the kind of person who can engage in healthy relationships, cultivating the willingness to accept help from others, daring to be honest, and opening up to doing."

- Debra Jay

"I couldn't believe that anybody could be naturally happy without being on something. So I would say to anybody, 'It does get better.'"

- Eminem

"When I got sober, I thought giving up was saying goodbye to all the fun and all the sparkle, and it turned out to be just the opposite. That's when the sparkle started for me."

- Mary Karr

"Without sobriety I would never be sitting here with you, no way, no chance. I never would have been able to have the relationships that I do. I never would have been able to take care of my father the way I did when he was sick. So many things."

- Bradley Cooper

"I wanted a drink [because] I didn't want to feel what I was feeling, and a voice within was telling me that I needed a drink, that I couldn't bear it without it. But that voice is a liar. You can always bear the pain. It'll hurt, it'll burn like acid in an open wound, but you can stand it. And, as long as you can make yourself go on choosing the pain over the relief, you can keep going."

- Lawrence Block

"My addiction does not define who I am or who I will be!"

- Lisa Renee Barnes Lampros

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

- Confucius

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

- Ace Frehley

"These feelings, no matter how painful, are part of living. Today, we are alive—not anesthetized, not sedated, not passed out. Take control of your feelings and through action you can change. Today, as every day of sober living, we have a choice."

- Ann D. Clark

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

- Muhammad Ali

"If you hear a voice within you say, ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."

- Vincent van Gogh

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

- Dean Dauphinais

"A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don’t function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick."

- Brené Brown

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

- Johann Hari

"Sometimes when in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, when actually you’ve been planted."

- Christine Caine

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars."

- Kahlil Gibran

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

- Peter Marshall

"Forgiving yourself, believing in yourself, and choosing to love yourself are the best gifts one could receive."

- Brittany Burgunder

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

- Zig Ziglar

"Life is a series of relapses and recoveries."

- George Ade

"Experience is not what happens to you, it is what you do with what happens to you."

- Aldous Huxley

"Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right."

- Henry Ford

"I went to hell and back, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Then I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in, happy about life and comfortable in my skin."

- Drew Barrymore

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

- Robert Downey Jr.

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

- Robert Downey Jr.

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

- J.K. Rowling

"When we share our stories, we help others find hope."

- Brené Brown

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

- Dalai Lama

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

- Toni Sorenson

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

- Doe Zantamata

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving."

- Albert Einstein

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

- James

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation, he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

- 1 Corinthians 10:13

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

- Alice Walker

"Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we'll ever do."

- Brené Brown

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

- Marilyn Ferguson

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

- Stephen King

"The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives."

- William James

"Everyone has inside them a piece of good news. The good news is that 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

"I’ve been the lead in movies, on television shows and nominated for Emmy. But the best thing I can say about me is that people who can't stop drinking come up to me and say, 'Can you help me? ' And I can say, 'Yes. '"

- Matthew Perry

"I’ve been absolutely terrified every moment of my life – and I’ve never let it keep me from doing a single thing I wanted to do."

- Georgia O'Keeffe

"If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path."

- Gautama Buddha

"Addiction denied is recovery delayed."

- Mokokoma Mokhonoana

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

- Toni Sorenson

"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well."

- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"Sometimes you can only find Heaven by slowly backing away from Hell."

- Carrie Fisher

"Nothing is impossible; the word itself says, ‘I’m possible!’"

- Audrey Hepburn

"I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."

- Jimmy Dean

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

- Elbert Hubbard

"You must do the things you think you cannot do."

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"We rise by lifting others."

- Robert Ingersoll

"Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step."

- Mariska Hargitay

"Self-care is never a selfish act—it is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer to others."

- Parker Palmer

"The healthy person finds happiness in helping others. Thus, for him, unselfishness is selfish."

- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) saying

"If you get, give. If you learn, teach."

- Maya Angelou

"Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light."

- Norman B. Rice

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

- James 4:7

"We may think there is willpower involved, but more likely … change is due to want power. Wanting the new addiction more than the old one. Wanting the new me in preference to the person I am now."

- George Sheehan

"If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."

- Vincent van Gogh

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

- Brené Brown

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

- Robert Louis Stevenson

"Addiction is an adaptation. It's not you–it's the cage you live in."

- Johann Hari

"Somebody once asked me how I define sobriety, and my response was 'liberation from dependence'."

- Leslie Jamison

"Once I was clear-headed, and I hadn’t been clear-headed in so long, I was like, I can never go back. And I’m still thankful."

- Travis Barker

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

- Tess Callahan

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that 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

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

- Jon Kabat-Zinn

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

- Alice Walker

"Whether you think that you can or that you can’t, you are usually right."

- Henry Ford

"When was the last time you woke up and wished you'd had just one more drink the night before? I have never regretted not drinking. Say this to yourself, and you'll get through anything."

- Meredith Bell

"At first, addiction is maintained by pleasure, but the intensity of the pleasure gradually diminishes and addiction is then maintained by the avoidance of pain."

- Frank Tallis

"As one goes through life, one learns that if you don’t paddle your own canoe, you don’t move."

- Katharine Hepburn

"People use drugs, legal and illegal, because their lives are intolerably painful or dull. They hate their work and find no rest in their leisure. They are estranged from their families and their neighbors. It should tell us something that in healthy societies drug use is celebrative, convivial, and occasional, whereas among us it is lonely, shameful, and addictive. We need drugs, apparently, because we have lost each other."

- Wendell Berry

"I've wanted to feel pleasure to the point of insanity. They call it getting high because it's wanting to know that higher level, that godlike level. You want to touch the heavens, you want to feel glory and euphoria, but the trick is it takes work. You can't buy it, you can't get it on a street corner, you can't steal it or inject it or shove it up your ass, you have to earn it."

- Anthony Kiedis

"First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

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

- Roger Babson

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

- Dr. Seuss

"The only journey is the one within."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

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

- William Gibson

"Amazing how we can light tomorrow with today."

- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"It's been said that alcoholics are egomaniacs with low self-esteem. It's the perfect description. Being larger than life and yet your pride is crushed with self-loathing."

- Gary Oldman

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

- Dr. Phil

"Gratitude always comes into play; research shows that people are happier if they are grateful for the positive things in their lives, rather than worrying about what might be missing."

- Dan Buettner

"The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love."

- Hubert H. Humphrey

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life."

- Melody Beattie

"Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die."

- Buddha

"A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls."

- Proverbs 25:28

"Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future."

- Paul Boese

"The more light you allow within you, the brighter the world you live in will be."

- Shakti Gawain

"Find the seed at the bottom of your heart and bring forth a flower."

- Shigenori Kameoka

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life; it comes to us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives, and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday."

- John Wayne

"Either you run the day, or the day runs you."

- Jim Rohn

"When you rise in the morning, think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love …"

- Marcus Aurelius

"The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but the thankful heart will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings."

- Henry Ward Beecher

"The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness."

- Dalai Lama

"I change when I'm drunk. I'm one of those people who changes…There is something in any person who drinks in a way that's clearly not good for them, something that is attracted to that chaos."

- Daniel Radcliffe

"Journaling is like whispering to oneself and listening at the same time."

- Mina Murray

"Human connections are the treasures of life that keep us going."

- Lisa Frederiksen

"I don’t know where I’m going from here, but I promise it won’t be boring."

- David Bowie

"If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome."

- Michael Jordan

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

- Albert Einstein

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

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

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

"Recovery is something that you have to work on every single day and it’s something that doesn’t get a day off."

- Anonymous

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

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

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

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

"Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to us."

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

"Before you can break out of prison, you must realise you are locked up."

- Anonymous

"The comeback is always stronger than the setback."

- Unknown

"Each day of sobriety is a step toward a better life."

"I refuse to give up on myself."

"Recovery is about progression, not perfection."

"If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging."

"A negative mind will never give you a positive life."

"I am worthy of love and healing."

"Don't let a stumble in the road be the end of the journey."

"I can change my story."

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

"You're not responsible for your disease, but you are responsible for your behavior."

"Gratitude turns what we have into enough."

"A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles."

"Either do not begin or, having begun, do not give up."

"A wise man adapts himself to circumstances, as water shapes itself to the vessel that contains it."

"It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward."

"Awareness is the first step to change."

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

"It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions but hard to get one single remedy."

"Patience and the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown."

"Know your triggers and protect your peace."