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Depression, low moments, and feeling down happen to us all.
If you’ve ever felt like the wind has thoroughly been taken from your sails, then we are here to help. Depression makes you feel awful, both mentally and physically, it can sap your motivation and take the zest out of living.
We’ve compiled this list of depression quotes to help you out from what can be one of the most difficult psychological hurdles any human can face.
We hope that these quotes can start you back on the track to feeling great – people have faced depression since time immemorial, and while it may feel like a losing battle sometimes, there are always better days ahead for you.
Before we bring out the depression quotes let's talk a little bit about depression – because it is absolutely a serious thing.
Why Read Depression Quotes?
Depression can manifest itself in many insidious ways, it can be a physiological state brought on by loss or negative events, or it could come out because of an addiction.
Depression can be terrible because it can become our constant companion, for some it seems like they must fight a battle with themselves, for others it means they lose the motivation to achieve their dreams.
Depression robs us of our potential and what’s more, it can be hard for the people around you to understand. Some may see you as being lazy, and some may tell you to “snap out of it” but this is all poor advice.
If you’re feeling like you’re constantly under pressure from a dark cloud, or even small tasks take the most enormous amount of effort, then you may have suffered or are currently suffering from depression.
How can depression quotes help you? They can help you realize that you are not alone, that there’s nothing “flawed” about you being depressed. Sometimes even a little quote can start you on the path to recovery or seek out support – and there is help available. However down you might feel now, there are always better days ahead!
The SAMHSA (substance abuse and mental health services administration) has a helpline here, they can provide you with local services and communities that can support you.
Here are the depression quotes – we hope they can help you out in some manner, and the SAMHSA helpline above is a free, confidential service that’s open 24/7.
75 Depression Quotes for When You're Feeling Down
- “If you have been brutally broken but still have the courage to be gentle to other living beings, then you’re a badass with a heart of an angel.” – Keanu Reeves
- “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced” – James Baldwin
- “We are always trying to build a bridge between ‘what is’ and ‘what should be’. And in that, there is contradiction and conflict.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti
- “We all have problems. But it’s not what happens to us, it’s the choices we make after.” – Elizabeth Smart
- “When people don’t know exactly what depression is, they can be judgmental.” – Marion Cotillard
- “I was born with a great awareness of my surroundings and other people … Sometimes that awareness is good, and sometimes I wish I wasn’t so sensitive.” – Scarlett Johansson
- “It takes half your life before you discover life is a do-it-yourself project.” – Napoleon Hill
- “Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not surrounded by assholes.” – Sigmund Freud
- “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar
- “Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not, and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- “Being an actress hasn’t made me insecure. I was insecure long before I declared I was an actress.” – Amy Adams
- “Whenever anything negative happens to you, there is a deep lesson concealed within it, although you may not see it at the time.” – Eckhart Tolle
- “I was only able to start changing my life when I realized my depression was not a malfunction. It’s a signal. Your depression is a signal. It’s telling you something.” – Johann Hair
- “When you’ve seen beyond yourself, then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there.” – George Harrison
- “A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support. No one would feel embarrassed about seeking help for a child if they broke their arm.” – Kate Middleton
- “Somewhere there is a past you overflowing with so much pride looking at how far you’ve come.” – Unknown
- “Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.” – Eckhart Tolle
- “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks
- “You’re like a grey sky. You’re beautiful, even though you don’t want to be.” – Jasmine Warga
- “It is okay to have depression, it is okay to have anxiety and it is okay to have an adjustment disorder. We need to improve the conversation. We all have mental health in the same way we all have physical health.” – Prince Harry
- “I won’t let my pain turn my heart into something ugly. I will show you that surviving can be beautiful.” – Christy Ann Martine
- “It’s not too late to recover. You are young, you are tough. You are adaptable. You can patch up your wounds, lift up your head and move on.” – Haruki Murakami
- “I tell myself, ‘You’ve been through so much, you’ve endured so much, time will allow me to heal, and soon this will be just another memory that made me the strong woman, athlete, and mother I am today.” – Serena Williams
- “You say you’re ‘depressed’ – all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.” – David Mitchell
- “Asking for help is the first step. You are more precious to this world than you’ll ever know.” – Lili Reinhart
- “Your pain is an opportunity for you to learn about yourself.” – Gary Zukav
- “Nothing has a hold on your mind that you cannot break free of.” – Lyanla Vanzant
- “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle
- “Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.” – Dodie Smith
- “I disliked myself so intensely. It was just a mindset. I didn’t know how to love myself. I didn’t know how to love anybody.” – Anne Hathaway
- “Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller
- “Even lost and alone, I kept moving forward. Even sacred and confused, I kept moving forward. In the end, that’s what you must do: keep moving forward.” – Maxime Lagace
- “We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action.” – Dr. Henry Link
- “You don’t have to live a lie. Living a lie will mess you up. It will send you into depression. It will warp your values.” – Gilbert Baker
- “After every Olympics, I think I fell into a major state of depression, and after 2012 that was probably the hardest fall for me. I didn’t want to be in the sport anymore…a year and a half, two years after that…” – Micheal Phelps
- “In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus
- “The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.” – Sophocles
- “You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” – James Allen
- “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” – Buddha
- “I tend to get pretty depressed and I have some issues with anxiety and things like that … For me, it’s more psychological. Exercise is a means of expelling those demons.” – Ryan Reynolds
“I tend to get pretty depressed and I have some issues with anxiety and things like that … For me, it’s more psychological. Exercise is a means of expelling those demons.” – Ryan Reynolds
- “Keep searching for the colors when everything turns grey.” – Christy Ann Martine
- “There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” – John Green
- “Do not stumble on something behind you.” – Seneca
- “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbel
- “Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?” – John Keats
- “Depression doesn’t take away your talents—it just makes them harder to find.” – Lady Gaga
- “You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have the right to be here.” – Max Ehrmann
- “Promise me you will always remember. You are braver than you believe and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Winnie the Pooh
- “A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” – David Brinkley
- “The lotus is the most beautiful flower, whose petals open one by one. But it will only grow in the mud.” – Goldie Hawn
- “I understand your pain. Trust me, I do. I’ve seen people go from the darkest moments in their lives to living a happy, fulfilling life. You can do it too. I believe in you. You are not a burden. You will NEVER BE a burden.” – Sophie Turner
- “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain
- “No storm, not even the one in your life, can last forever. The storm is just passing over.” – Lyanla Vanzant
- “When written in Chinese the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy
- “The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end, finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God.” – Victor Hugo
- “Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” – Dorothy M. Neddermeyer
- “You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” – Dan Millman
- “No matter how tall the mountain is, it cannot block the sun.” – Chinese Proverb
- “Don’t cling to yesterday. It was beautiful, but it was yesterday.” – Osho
- “The wound is the place where the light enters you.” – Rumi
- “Crying is one of the highest devotional songs. One who knows crying, knows spiritual practice. If you can cry with a pure heart, nothing else compares to such a prayer. Crying includes all the principles of Yoga.” – Kripalvanandji
- “I believe that words are strong, that they can overwhelm what we fear when fear seems more awful than life is good.” – Andrew Solomon
- “There will always be suffering. But we must not suffer over the suffering.” – Alan Watts
- “You have to die a few times before you can really live.” – Charles Bukowski
- “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” – H. G. Wells
- “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” – John Wooden
- “Depression, suffering, and anger are all part of being human.” – Janet Fitch
- “The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway
- “Life begins on the other end of despair.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
- “Magic is believing in yourself. If you can make that happen, you can make anything happen.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
- “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” – Richard Bach
- “It is very hard to explain to people who have never known serious depression or anxiety the sheer continuous intensity of it. There is no off switch.” – Matt Haig
- “Do not be numb. If you wish to heal your wounds; first learn to feel where they are.” – A. Daniel
- “Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” – Arthur Ashe
- “It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness, that is life.” – Jean-Luc Picard
Final Thoughts on Depression Quotes
That concludes our depression quotes, we hope that they help you find your feet again, no matter what situation you are currently in.
Never forget that help is always available, and just because you are depressed doesn't mean there’s anything wrong with you. Sometimes even the smallest actions can help us start to heal.
To help you out, we have 67 affirmations for people struggling with depression.
And if you want more eye-opening quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 79 Self Care Quotes for Your Mind, Body & Soul
- 67 Grit Quotes to Persevere When Times are Tough
- 55 Leap of Faith Quotes for Tough Times
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then check out and recite these 57 affirmations for success.
Tom Smith is a creative writer with over 6 years of professional experience. He discovered the joy of writing after covering some furniture in his childhood home with graffiti. In later years, he got himself a BA in creative writing and hasn’t looked back. After discovering the power of positive thinking and discovering the spiritual side of life, he believes it's a huge privilege to be able to write about all things personal development.
