Depression can feel like a weight that never lifts, a relentless cloud that dims every light. At times, even the simplest tasks seem impossible. Many have walked this path and expressed their feelings in words that echo the depth of their struggle. These quotes can provide comfort and remind us that we are not alone in our experiences.
In this article, we have gathered some of the most poignant depression quotes. These words may not cure the pain, but they can offer a sliver of understanding and connection. Let them be a small light in the darkness, a reminder that even in our hardest moments, we are never truly alone.
Inspirational Quotes for Depression Healing
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“Stars can’t shine without darkness.”
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”
“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.”
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but about learning how to dance in the rain.”
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
“To anyone in despair, you are not alone, and this pain will pass.”
“Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.”
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.”
“Keep yourself busy if you want to avoid depression. For me, inactivity is the enemy.”
“The best way out is always through.”
“If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?”
“Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step.”
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
“There is no need to be perfect to inspire others. Let others get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.”
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
“Sometimes, you have to face your greatest fears to find yourself.”
“Pain is real, but so is hope.”
“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.”
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
“Inhale the future, exhale the past.”
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.”
“When you feel like giving up, just remember why you held on for so long.”
“Depression is not the end of your story. It is the beginning of a new chapter.”
Uplifting Depression Quotes for Self-Care
“The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light.”
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
“In the middle of winter, I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.”
“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside—remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.”
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
“When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
“You are allowed to scream, you are allowed to cry, but do not give up.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“Stars can’t shine without darkness.”
“We are all broken, that’s how the light gets in.”
“Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step.”
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“You are more than the mistakes you’ve made.”
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
“Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is relax.”
“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”
“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’”
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.”
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“The best way out is always through.”
“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”
“Out of difficulties grow miracles.”
“Hope is the only thing stronger than fear.”
“No storm, not even the one in your life, can last forever. The storm is just passing over.”
“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.”
“Sometimes the smallest step in the right direction ends up being the biggest step of your life. Tiptoe if you must, but take the step.”
Quotes on Depression from Famous Individuals
“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”
“The sun stopped shining for me is all. The whole story is: I am sad. I am sad all the time and the sadness is so heavy that I can’t get away from it.”
“I didn’t want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that’s really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you’re so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare.”
“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also harder to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken.'”
“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise.”
“I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top.”
“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.”
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.”
“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.”
“Even for me life had its gleams of sunshine.”
“The sun is gone, but I have a light.”
“Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.”
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
“I was so scared to give up depression, fearing that somehow the worst part of me was actually all of me.”
“You never know how deep it goes until you can’t go back.”
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“She was drowning, but nobody saw her struggle.”
“I feel so disconnected from the world, and I feel like it’s the world disconnecting from me.”
“Even in the darkest clouds, there is hope for sunlight.”
“I need one of those long hugs where you kinda forget whatever else is happening around you for a minute.”
“I saw the world in black and white instead of the vibrant colors and shades I knew existed.”
“We cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever. We must stand up and move on to the next action.”
“We are all just one small adjustment away from making our lives work.”
“Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.”
“It’s so difficult to describe depression to someone who’s never been there, because it’s not sadness.”
“You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.”
“Depression is living in a body that fights to survive with a mind that tries to die.”
“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
“This life is not about feeling comfortable or avoiding the pain. It’s about becoming stronger, more refined, more open, and more loving.”
“You’re like a grey sky. You’re beautiful, even though you don’t want to be.”
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.”
Quotes about Understanding Depression
“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also harder to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken.’”
“I didn’t want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that’s really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you’re so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare.”
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.”
“The sun stopped shining for me that’s all. The whole story is: I am sad. I am sad all the time and the sadness is so heavy that I can’t get away from it. Not ever.”
“The only thing more exhausting than being depressed is pretending that you’re not.”
“Depression is the inability to construct a future.”
“I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top.”
“People who have never dealt with depression think it’s just being sad or being in a bad mood. That’s not what depression is for me; it’s falling into a state of grayness and numbness.”
“There is no person in this whole world who is a mistake, no matter how different that person may seem.”
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.”
“Having anxiety and depression is like being scared and tired at the same time. It’s the fear of failure, but no urge to be productive. It’s wanting friends, but hating socializing. It’s wanting to be alone, but not wanting to be lonely. It’s feeling everything at once then feeling paralyzingly numb.”
“The so-called ‘psychotically depressed’ person who tries to kill herself doesn’t do so out of quote ‘hopelessness’ or any abstract conviction that life’s assets and debits do not square. And surely not because death seems suddenly appealing. The person in whom its invisible agony reaches a certain unendurable level will kill herself the same way a trapped person will eventually jump from the window of a burning high-rise.”
“I need one of those long hugs where you kinda forget whatever else is happening around you for a minute.”
“Depression weighs you down like a rock in a river. You don’t stand a chance. You can fight and pray and hope you have the strength to swim, but sometimes, you have to let yourself sink.”
“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.”
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.”
“Anyone who has actually been that sad can tell you that there’s nothing beautiful or literary or mysterious about depression.”
“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”
“Depression is being colorblind and constantly told how colorful the world is.”
“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.”
“I saw the world in black and white instead of the vibrant colours and shades I knew existed.”
“When people don’t know exactly what depression is, they can be judgmental.”
“The hardest thing about depression is that it is addictive. It begins to feel uncomfortable not to be depressed. You feel guilty for feeling happy.”
“Depression is like a war. You either win or die trying.”
“You’re not a bad person for the ways you tried to kill your sadness.”
“Depression on my left, Loneliness on my right. They don’t need to show me their badges. I know these guys very well.”
“Sometimes, when people are in a dark place, they need someone to be with them. Not to fix them, but to love them and sit with them in the darkness.”
“And something inside me just…broke…That’s the only way I could describe it.”
“I was so scared to give up depression, fearing that somehow the worst part of me was actually all of me.”
“Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.”
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“When you’re going through hell, keep going.”
“You are the one thing in this world, above all other things, that you must never give up on.”
“Sometimes, carrying on, just carrying on, is the superhuman achievement.”
“This too shall pass.”
“The best way out is always through.”
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.”
“Stars can’t shine without darkness.”
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
“Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“If you’re going through a breakup and you miss your ex, keep going. A heart that breaks heals stronger.”
“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
“Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step.”
“To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.”
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
“The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love.”
“When it is darkest, we can see the stars.”
“You are never stronger than when you land flat on your back and realize you can still look up.”
“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”
“Out of difficulties grow miracles.”
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
“Behind every dark cloud is an every-shining sun. Just wait. In time, the cloud will pass.”
“Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.”
“In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.”
“Mood swings are like the waves; they rise and fall with the tide of your soul.”
“Just remember, you are not alone. By facing your fears, you can conquer them.”
“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”
“Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to; it’s not for them.”
Motivational Quotes for Depression Recovery
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”
“The best way out is always through.”
“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.”
“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.”
“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.”
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”
“Stars can’t shine without darkness.”
“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.'”
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”
“Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step.”
“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart.”
“We generate fears while we sit. We overcome them by action.”
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
“You are stronger than you know. More capable than you ever dreamed. And you are loved more than you could possibly imagine.”
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.”
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
“To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
“No storm, not even the one in your life, can last forever. The storm is just passing over.”
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
“Sometimes when you’re in a dark place you think you’ve been buried, but actually, you’ve been planted.”
“Out of difficulties grow miracles.”
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
“Your struggle is part of your story.”
“Our scars are a testimony to the world. They are a part of our story and remind us that we conquered, that we survived.”
Depression Quotes from Literature and Poetry
“I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top.”
“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”
“I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.”
“The silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”
“I felt a Funeral, in my Brain, and Mourners to and fro kept treading — treading — till it seemed that Sense was breaking through.”
“I am terrified by this dark thing that sleeps in me.”
“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.”
“Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, tears from the depth of some divine despair rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, in looking on the happy Autumn-fields, and thinking of the days that are no more.”
“I am so tired of this melancholia. I am tired of feeling like I’m losing my mind.”
“The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.”
“we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“There is no greater sorrow than to recall in misery the time when we were happy.”
“I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.”
“But what if I can’t help but wonder what we’ll become?”
“Some people are just not meant to be in this world. It’s just too much for them.”
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
“It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.”
“Behind every beautiful thing, there’s some kind of pain.”
“And sometimes I have kept my feelings to myself, because I could find no language to describe them in.”
“Melancholy is sadness that has taken on lightness.”
“My soul is among lions: I lie among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.”
“To miss someone is to love them. They are inseparable.”
“Sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness.”
“I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough gleams that untravelled world whose margin fades for ever and forever when I move.”
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”
“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.”
“This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper.”
“After all, tomorrow is another day.”
“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason.”
“Beneath the makeup and behind the smile I am just a girl who wishes for the world.”
“There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and recovered hope.”
“The great thing about a life of sin is that it’s never too late to change.”
Humorous Depression Quotes for Lighter Moments
“I told my therapist about my depression; they told me to cheer up. I guess that’s why they make the big bucks.”
“You would think that a broken heart is the most painful thing, until you need to get out of bed on a Monday morning.”
“If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, my depression still finds a way to tell me it’s my fault.”
“Every time I find the meaning of life, they change it.”
“I’m not saying I’m Batman, but have you ever seen me and Batman in the same room? Oh wait, that’s my depression talking.”
“I didn’t fall out of bed this morning; the ground punched me in the face.”
“They say laughter is the best medicine. Unfortunately, my insurance doesn’t cover stand-up comedy.”
“I accidentally spilled coffee on my calendar. Now I see a latte of the same depressing events.”
“I tried to organize a hide-and-seek tournament for depressed people, but good luck finding them.”
“If only depression burned calories, I’d be a supermodel by now.”
“I’ve got 99 problems and 86 of them are completely made up scenarios in my head that I’m stressing about for absolutely no logical reason.”
“Exercise? I thought you said extra fries.”
“I told my depression I was sick of it; it asked if it should call in another sad feeling to cover.”
“I don’t go the extra mile, because it’s never crowded and my depression prefers company.”
“Depression is like a ninja – stealthy, sneaky, and always ready to roundhouse kick your emotions.”
“I baked a cake for every time I felt sad; now my kitchen is a bakery.”
“Depression is like trying to keep an ice cream cone from melting in the Sahara desert.”
“I tried to drown my sorrows, but my depression learned how to swim.”
“I have a condition that makes me eat when I can’t find a reason to smile. It’s called boredom-induced depression snacking.”
“The only thing I’ve managed to lose weight on is my bank account due to therapy bills.”
“I would make a joke about depression, but I’d cry halfway through it.”
“I tried jogging once. It was the worst two minutes of my life.”
“Adulting is mostly just Googling symptoms and reading about how they relate to your depression.”
“Is it bad to name your depression? Mine goes by Debbie Downer.”
“If my brain had a background music, it would be a sad trombone.”
“If there were an award for Procrastination, I’d probably be depressed because I didn’t submit my entry on time.”
“I wish my wallet had a depression because I wouldn’t mind seeing some money disappear.”
“My room is clean enough to be healthy, but messy enough to be depressed.”
“They say selfies are a cry for attention. Well, depression is the selfie expert.”
“I’m so good at sleeping, I can do it with my eyes closed and still feel exhausted when I wake up.”
“You can’t spell ‘sluggish’ without ‘ugh,’ and that’s basically my mood.”
Empowering Depression Quotes to Ignite Hope
“Out of the darkness comes the light. Even the longest night will end and the sun will rise.”
“You are not a burden. You have a light inside of you that the world needs to see. Shine bright, even in the darkest moments.”
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.”
“Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it.”
“Sometimes, when you’re in a dark place, you think you’ve been buried, but actually you’ve been planted.”
“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about.”
“Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me, there lay an invincible summer.”
“Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all.”
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
“Even the darkest night will end, and the sun will rise.”
“Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step.”
“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”
“Depression is not the end of your story; it is the beginning of your strength.”
“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.”
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
“You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.”
“No storm, not even the one in your life, can last forever.”
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.”
“Courage does not always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.'”
“This too shall pass.”
“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.”
“Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to; it’s not for them.”
“The only thing more exhausting than being depressed is pretending that you’re not.”
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”
“You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.”
“It’s okay to struggle. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to be human.”
“Stars can’t shine without darkness.”
Wrapping-up
These quotes about depression offer comfort and understanding for those who need it most. They remind us that we are not alone in our struggles and that many have walked this path before. Sometimes, a few wise words can make a big difference, shedding light on dark moments and providing a sense of connection.
Whether you’re looking for empathy or seeking to support someone else, these quotes can serve as a gentle reminder that hope exists, even if it sometimes feels far away. Keep these words close, and let them help you through tough times.
