This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.
If you’re looking to soothe your anxious mind then check out my top inspirational quotes for anxiety sufferers.
As an ex-anxiety sufferer, I know how anxiety can cause a whirlwind of negative thoughts, doubts, fears, and worries in your mind.
But I also know that reading inspirational quotes can interrupt your constant negative self-talk, lift your mood, relieve anxiety, and change your mindset. And I am not exaggerating!
For example, the following quote by Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher, helped me immensely
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words;
watch your words, they become your actions;
watch your actions, they become your habits;
watch your habits, they become your character;
watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
From this single quote, I realized two very important teachings of life:
- Your thoughts become your actions and habits.
- But, if you change your thoughts you can change your destiny!
This quote is incredibly deep and sums up amazingly the effect our thoughts can have on the things that happen in our lives.
For example, if you have the following thought on repeat in your mind
“I’m always going to suffer from chronic anxiety“
you’re unlikely to take steps to manage anxiety. And when anxiety is left unmanaged it often gets worse.
But, if you begin to affirm daily,
“I can overcome chronic anxiety"
you’re more likely to adopt anxiety management techniques to help you improve your mental health.
So, as you can see, one amazing quote can make you think deeply about life and potentially trigger a change in your thinking.
Over the years I have come across many beautiful quotes that have lifted me from moments of worst anxiety.
In this article, I’m going to share with you 100 of my favorite anxiety quotes that I know will help you.
After you’ve read all of these inspirational quotes for anxiety sufferers, I highly recommend that you print them out and place them in your anxiety journal or on your wall, to help you refer to words of wisdom as often as possible.
Table of Contents
Top 100 Inspirational Quotes for Anxiety Sufferers
1. Anxiety Quotes to Help You Cope with Your Anxious Life
When You Need Strength to Keep Going
Living with anxiety can be incredibly difficult and frustrating.
My anxiety used to control every aspect of my existence and I often thought about taking my own life to end my anxious pain.
But today I am so thankful that I kept going, and it is my goal to inspire you to do the same through the following quotes.
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, she became a butterfly.
– Barbara Haines Howett
Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
– Buddha
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, she became a butterfly.
– Barbara Haines Howett
Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
– Buddha
Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. The best is yet to come.
– Zig Ziglar
Every moment is a fresh beginning.
– T.S. Eliot
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
– Albert Einstein
New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.
– Lao Tzu
Sometimes the bad things that happen in our lives put us directly on the path to the most wonderful things that will ever happen to us.
– Nicole Reed
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
– Albert Einstein
When You Need Encouragement
Anxiety and perfectionism are often seen in people together. But demanding perfection triggers more anxiety.
Alternatively, if we practice letting go of perfection we can significantly benefit our mental health.
Also, what you need to know is that doing your best is in itself perfect enough.
If you are feeling anxious and you need encouragement these quotes can help you.
Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.
– Theodore Roosevelt
Be gentle with yourself, you’re doing the best you can.
– Anonymous
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
– Lao Tzu
People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.
– Dalai Lama
You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
– Martin Luther King
If you can’t fly then run; if you can’t run then walk; if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.
– Martin Luther King Jr.
When You Need Help Slowing Down
Listening to relaxing music or guided meditations can help you calm your anxious brain activity.
Meditation brings our focus to the present moment, and when we are present we move away from worrying about the past or the future, which automatically helps to relieve anxiety.
The following quotes are sure to inspire you to practice meditation or anything else that makes you be in the moment.
We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.
– Dalai Lama
(Slow breathing) is like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won’t make the storm go away, but it will hold you steady until it passes.
– Russ Harris
Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.
– Anne Lamott
Be still like a mountain and flow like a river.
– Lao Tzu
The time to relax is when you don't have the time.
- Sydney J Harris
Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.
– Lao Tzu
Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.
– Lao Tzu
Never travel faster than your guardian angel can fly.
– Mother Teresa
Remain calm, because peace equals power.
– Joyce Meyer
If you know the art of deep breathing, you have the strength, wisdom and courage of ten tigers.
– Chinese adage
Silence is a source of Great Strength.
– Lao Tzu
If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.
– Lao Tzu
Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Always say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to life – and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.
– Eckhart Tolle
Yesterday is already gone. Tomorrow is not yet here. Today is the only day available to us; it is the most important day of our lives.
Thich Nhat Han
When You Need Help Letting Go of Control
Your anxious mind is likely to want to control things in your life in the hope that you will feel less anxious.
But in reality, the more we try to control anything the more anxious we are likely to feel.
Why?
Because the universe has a plan for you and ever other living bein on this planet and no matter what you do, the universal plan will plow ahead.
To help you let go of control here are some wonderful quotes.
By letting go it all gets done.
– Lao Tzu
Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.
– Roy Bennett
Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Surrender to what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be.
– Sonia Ricotti
Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.
– Lao Tzu
Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.
– Eckhart Tolle
Surrender your self-interest. Love others as much as you love yourself. Then you can be entrusted with all things under heaven.
– Lao Tzu
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.
– Lao Tzu
You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.
– Wayne Dyer
You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.
– Steve Maraboli
You must love in such a way that the person you love feels free.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
When You Can’t Stop Overthinking
One of the main symptoms of anxiety is excessive worrying and overthinking.
Anxiety sufferers tend to over-analyze what might happen in the future, or why something happened in the past.
But overthinking is unlikely to get us to the bottom of anything.
It only triggers more anxiety.
To help you stop overthinking here are some powerful quotes.
Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.
– Lao Tzu
Stop thinking, and end your problems.
– Lao Tzu
What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.
– Martha Graham
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.
– Albert Einstein
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
– Dalai Lama
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
– Albert Einstein
It is very rare or almost impossible that an event can be negative from all points of view.
– Dalai Lama
When You Want to Change Your Life
I wish someone told me years ago that our eating habits and level of physical activity have a huge impact on our anxiety levels.
If I knew this when I was a teenager I could have saved myself from years of chronic anxiety.
Well,…
…Let me be the one to tell you or remind you that healthy eating and regular exercise can help you effectively manage your anxiety, but also change your life.
The following quotes can also serve as a reminder.
To keep the body in good health is a duty…otherwise we shall not be able to keep the mind strong and clear.
– Buddha
The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patients in care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.
– Thomas Edison
To ensure good health: eat lightly, breathe deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.
– William Londen
Physical fitness is the first requisite of happiness.
– Joseph Pilates
Health is a large word. It embraces not the body only, but the mind and spirit as well;…and not today’s pain or pleasure alone, but the whole being and outlook of a man.
– James H. West
The root of all health is in the brain. The trunk of it is in emotion. The branches and leaves are the body. The flower of health blooms when all parts work together.
– Kurdish Saying
The… patient should be made to understand that he or she must take charge of his own life. Don’t take your body to the doctor as if he were a repair shop.
– Quentin Regestein
When You Want to Change Your Thoughts
Anxiety triggers many negative thought patterns, and negative thoughts make anxiety worse.
Changing our thoughts is not easy but it is possible.
Think about changing your thoughts like training for a marathon. When you first start running it‘s tough, you get out of breath easily and you want to give up. But if you stick with it, practice daily, then it becomes possible to run a marathon!
Changing our thoughts is important because we cant expect to reduce anxiety if we continue to think the same thoughts that are currently triggering our symptoms.
Here are a few quotes to inspire you.
If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.
– Steven Hayes
If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
– Lao Tzu
Every negative belief weakens the partnership between mind and body.
– Deepak Chopra
Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.
– Dalai Lama
No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.
– Albert Einstein
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
– Wayne Dyer
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
2. Overcoming Anxiety Quotes
When You Want to Learn from Your Anxiety
Anxiety is a signal for something that you need to change in your life , and the moment you realize that the easier it will be to overcome anxiety.
If you pay close attention to when your anxiety goes up or down, you can identify what is triggering your symptoms, and slowly start to make changes in line with what you have learned.
For example,
The following quotes aim to inspire you to get to know yourself better as well as your anxiety.
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
– Pema Chodron
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
– Lao Tzu
Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.
– Eckhart Tolle
Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
– Carl Jung
When You Want to Love Yourself
Self-love is the best anti-anxiety medicine you can give yourself.
Think about a relationship between a mother and a child. When a mother truly loves her child she will naturally want the best for her child. This will make her do everything she can to make her child feel happy, safe, and content.
In the same way, when you start to love yourself, you will also do everything you can to feel less anxious.
Also, I want to highlight that self-love is not selfish, because it’s only when you truly love yourself that you can also truly love others.
The following quotes are sure to inspire self-love.
To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.
– Rumi
Love is the absence of judgment.
– Mother Teresa
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.
– Mother Teresa
Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.
– Eckhart Tolle
Love is the bridge between you and everything.
– Rumi
When you are content to be simply yourself and don’t compare or compete, everyone will respect you.
– Lao Tzu
You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.
– Christopher Robin
You have a treasure within you that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.
– Eckhart Tolle
By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.
– Edwin Elliot
Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.
– Mother Teresa
When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.
– Mother Teresa
3. Inspirational Quotes for Depression and Anxiety
When You Want a Fast Antidote for Anxiety and Depression
Smiling and laughing produce happy chemicals in the brain, lift mood, release tension and reduce anxiety.
So, watch funny movies or clips as often as possible and laugh as much as you can. Also, make an effort to smile at every opportunity.
Here are a few quotes to inspire you.
Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment.
– Grenville Kleiser
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.
– Irish proverb
Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
– Mother Teresa
Peace begins with a smile.
– Mother Teresa
When Someone Hurts You
We all feel hurt by people now and again but when we suffer from mental health we can experience this more deeply than most.
This is especially true when we are suffering from chronic anxiety. We start tend to overthink, and find it very difficult to let go.
If someone has hurt you here are a few quotes to help you feel better.
Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
– Rumi
Silence is sometimes the best answer.
– Dalai Lama
The best fighter is never angry.
Lao Tzu
The true hero is one who conquers his own anger and hatred.
– Dalai Lama
When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
When You’re Ready To Find Your Purpose
Being in the wrong kind of job can be one of the reasons why you are suffering from anxiety and depression.
We all need money to live, but finding a way to earn money and pursue your purpose in life can do wonders for your mental health.
Here are a few quotes to inspire you.
A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it’s built for.
– Albert Einstein
Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts.
– Albert Einstein
Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.
– Rumi
When I let go of what I am, I become what I want to be.
– Lao Tzu
What you seek is seeking you.
– Rumi
When You Want to Feel Better
Struggling with anxiety and depression makes life pretty challenging, but you’re still likely to have ‘good mental health days’ and ‘bad mental health days’.
If you are having a bad day, here are a few quotes to help you feel better.
What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.
– Lao Tzu
Do the difficult things while they are easy and do the great things while they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.
Lao Tzu
He who is contented is rich, those people who are contented are rich.
– Lao Tzu
Look at flowers, butterflies, trees, and children with the eyes of compassion. Compassion will change your life and make it wonderful.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Today’s a perfect day for a whole new start. Let go of fear and free your mind. It’s time to open your heart.
– Chris Butler
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.
– Aesop
Stress, anxiety and depression are caused when we are living to please others.
– Paulo Coelho
Once you stop learning, you start dying.
– Albert Einstein
We have to continue to learn. We have to be open. And we have to be ready to release our knowledge in order to come to a higher understanding of reality.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
Final Thoughts
Inspirational quotes can interrupt anxiety-driven negative self-talk, calm your anxious mind, and positively change your mindset.
Print a copy of these quotes and refer to them as often as you can.
Latest posts by Sandra Glavan, Life Coach for Gentle Anxiety Sufferers (see all)
- How to Live Your Best Life as a Highly Sensitive Person? - 14th October 2023
- How to Sleep Better and Longer? Top 5 Tips - 1st October 2023
- How to Let Go of Control and Relieve Anxiety? - 22nd September 2023