Mental Health Quotes For Everyday Motivation

Quotes about mental health

Mental health is a lot more than the absence of illness: it is an intrinsic part of our individual and collective health and well-being. – World Health Organization (WHO)

The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it. – Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

Good mental health is absolutely fundamental to overall health and well-being. – Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director-General)

Whether an illness affects your heart, your leg, or your brain, it’s still an illness, and there should be no distinction. – Michelle Obama

We need not become fixated upon our own suffering, whatever its origin. We offer it up, thus participating in the well-being of the universe. When we experience an illness or depression not as our own but as the universe’s, we are one with all beings who experience this kind of suffering. – Jean-Yves Leloup, Compassion and Meditation: The Spiritual Dynamic Between Buddhism and Christianity

Positive mental health quotes

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it. – Maya Angelou

Promise me you’ll always remember; you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. – A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

You are allowed to be both a masterpiece and a work in progress simultaneously. – Sophia Bush

Depression doesn’t take away your talents – it just makes them harder to find. But I always find it. I learned that my sadness never destroyed what was great about me. You just have to go back to that greatness, find that one little light that’s left. – Lady Gaga

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, Return to Tipasa

Self-love

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. – Carl Jung

Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. – Malcom. S Forbes

To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting. – William Shakespeare, Henry V

Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others. – Christopher Gerner, PhD

Your heart hears everything your mind says. Stay kind. – Naomi Judd

Overcoming hardships

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great. - Hilary Hinton “Zig” Ziglar

One must never let the fire go out in one’s soul, but keep it burning. – Vincent van Gogh

Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. – Helen Keller

Action is the antidote to despair. – Joan Baez

Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving; we get stronger and more resilient. – Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

The act of facing overwhelming odds produces greatness and beauty. – Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Acceptance

Growth begins when we start to accept our own weakness. – Jean Vanier

It is okay to be at a place of struggle. Struggle is just another word for growth. – Neale Donald Walsch

Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. – Rumi

I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept. – Angela Davis

Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it. – Michael J. Fox

A wound that goes unacknowledged and unwept is a wound that cannot heal. – John Eldredge, Wild at Heart

Appreciating now and remaining present

Remember that there is only one important time, and it is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. – Leo Tolstoy, The Three Questions

Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment. – Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose

It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth, and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it were the only one we had. – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. – The Teaching of Buddha

You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present. – Jan Glidewell

Finding purpose

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your identity. This is why habits are crucial. – James Clear

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis

It always seems impossible until it’s done. – Nelson Mandela

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. – Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life and the procedure. The process is its own reward. – Amelia Earhart

Recovering

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. – Lao Tzu

Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. – Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light

Believe you can, and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt

What oxygen is to the lungs, such is hope to the meaning of life. – Emil Brunner, Faith, Hope, and Love

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. – Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful. – Sigmund Freud

Mental health awareness

What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation. – Glenn Close

Men feeling depression and anxiety or any other mental health illness is not unusual and is nothing to feel ashamed of. Stigmas are real and deeply affect men, as nearly one in ten men experience depression or anxiety. – Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA)

When we talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone. – Fred Rogers

Mental health problems do not define who you are. They are something you experience. You walk in the rain, and you feel the rain, but, importantly. You are not the rain. – Matt Haig

We live in a world where to admit anything negative about yourself is seen as a weakness, when it’s actually a strength. It’s not a weak move to say, “I need help”. In the long run, it’s way better, because you have to fix it. – Jon Hamm

Short mental health quotes and proverbs

Fall seven times. Stand up eight. – Japanese proverb

Turn your face toward the sun, and the shadows fall behind you. – Maori proverb

Life isn’t as serious as the mind makes it out to be. – Eckhart Tolle

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors. – African proverb

A heavy burden is lightened when shared. – Somali proverb

Final thoughts

Mental health looks different for everyone, and words of encouragement can offer perspective, hope, and reassurance during difficult moments. If you're struggling with your mental health, remember that support is available, and reaching out to a trusted loved one or mental health professional can be an important first step toward healing.

For mental health support, you may contact:

• Your primary care provider.
• Suicide & Crisis Lifeline on 988 (call or text).
• In an emergency, call 911.