Last Updated: November 5, 2022 by Quote.cc Team
Wikipedia defines anxiety as “an emotion characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil, often accompanied by nervous behavior such as pacing back and forth, somatic complaints, and rumination. It includes subjectively unpleasant feelings of dread over anticipated events.”.
According to figures from the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. around 40 million adults are diagnosed with anxiety disorders and depression brought on by stress every year.
Feeling some anxiety surrounding certain life events is expected. Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety from time to time. However, if your worries won’t go away and they keep you from enjoying your life, it might be a cause for concern. In some cases, anxiety can affect your life and interfere with your daily activities, such as schooling, work, and relationships. Living with anxiety is hardly accessible when any day can include irrational fear of non-threatening situations, excessive nervousness and indecisiveness, and even the inability to relax at any given time.
Sometimes anxiety can also be beneficial. It can help you recognize future threats and challenges, giving you time to prepare for them. Although dealing with anxiety can be a tough battle, the good news is that it can be defeated.
Whether you’ve been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder or are simply going through a stressful period, everyone needs a little motivation now and then in life. Sometimes it takes only a sentence or two to get on the other side of anxiety.
I love motivational quotes. I find them especially useful when I’m feeling anxious. Motivational quotes have helped me through the darkest days of my depression and the peaks and troughs of my anxiety. In this post, 180 anxiety quotes are handpicked for their ability to uplift people from their distress. We feature overcoming anxiety quotes, inspirational quotes for anxiety sufferers, and inspirational quotes about depression and anxiety to encourage you when facing it.
Were you feeling anxious now? Take a deep breath, and read through this stress-relieving, empowering quotes.
180 Anxiety Quotes That Will Help You Heal and Cope
Top 10 Anxiety Quotes
“People tend to dwell more on negative things than on good things. So the mind then becomes obsessed with negative things, with judgments, guilt and anxiety produced by thoughts about the future and so on.” – Eckhart Tolle
“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.” – Winston S. Churchill
“The best way out of anxiety is often to expose yourself to the things you are afraid of. ”
“If you’re feeling anxious or ashamed, ask yourself what thought or assumption is driving that feeling. Frequently, the thought will be flawed.”
“You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” – Dan Millman
“Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.” – Jodi Picoult
“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” – Walter Anderson
“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realised how seldom they do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“I cannot always control what goes on outside. But I can always control what goes on inside.” – Wayne Dyer
What is Anxiety?
“Anxiety was born in the very same moment as mankind. And since we will never be able to master it, we will have to learn to live with it— just as we have learned to live with storms.” – Paulo Coelho
“Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” – Soren Kierkegaard
“Anxiety is one little tree in your forest. Step back and look at the whole forest.”
“Anxiety is not being able to sleep because you said something wrong two years ago and can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Anxiety is love’s greatest killer. It makes others feel as you might when a drowning man holds on to you. You want to save him, but you know he will strangle you with his panic.” – Anais Nin
“Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” – Arthur Somers Roche
“Anxiety is a lot like a toddler. It never stops talking, tells you you’re wrong about everything, and wakes you up at 3am.”
“Although anxiety is part of life, never let it control you.”
“The only way I can describe the extent of my anxiety is to say that I felt as if I were pregnant with a rock.”
“Every day is a struggle even when I’m at my best. My anxiety is always with me and my panic taps me on my shoulder a few times a day. On my good days, I can brush it off. On my bad days, I just want to stay in bed.”
“Anxiety isn’t something that goes away; it’s something you learn to control.”
“Persistent, non-specific anxiety is the result of wanting so much, talking so much, and doing so much that you lose touch with the quiet joys of solitude.” – Naval Ravikant
Funny Anxiety Quotes
“Become a worry-slapper. Treat frets like mosquitoes. Do you procrastinate when a bloodsucking bug lights on your skin? ‘I’ll take care of it in a moment.’ Of course you don’t! You give the critter the slap it deserves. Be equally decisive with anxiety.” – Max Lucado
“Everyone remembers the remark of the old man at the point of death, that his life had been full of troubles—most of which had never happened.” – Winston Churchill
“Sometimes it’s better to look at things than own them… owning means anxiety and a lot of bags to carry around.”
“Telling someone with anxiety to just calm down is like telling someone with epilepsy to just stop having a seizure.”
“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” – Chinese proverb
“There are two ways to get rid of an anxiety monster, my friend—you either have a bath or a nap.” – Andrew Kaufman
“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.” – David Mamet
“Worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.”
“Worrying about outcomes over which I have no control is punishing myself before the universe has decided whether I ought to be punished.” – Sherry Thomas
“Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.” – Erma Bombeck
“Your mind is your prison when you focus on your fear.”
“It’s sad, actually, because my anxiety keeps me from enjoying things as much as I should at this age.” – Amanda Seyfried
“The largest part of what we call ‘personality’ is determined by how we’ve opted to defend ourselves against anxiety and sadness.” – Alain de Botton
“Agent Carson pulled up in her SUV. We’d thrown her when we both climbed into her official vehicle, but I quickly explained that Reyes, my affianced, had separation anxiety.” – Darynda Jones
“If we all die and become stars then I must believe that our souls live in the stars. Now I know why people look up to the sky when they think of someone they wish to see.” – Nicola An
Positive Anxiety Quotes
“A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you.” – Joyce Meyer
“Anxiety can feel as huge as the big, blue sea, but remember that the sea is made up of smaller waves.”
“At the end of the day, tell yourself gently: ‘I love you, you did the best you could today, and even if you didn’t accomplish all you had planned, I love you anyway.”
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside of you that is greater than any obstacle..” – Christian D Larson
“Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.” – Dalai Lama
“Calmness is the cradle of power.” – Josiah Gilbert Holland
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”
“Comedy is defiance. It’s a snort of contempt in the face of fear and anxiety. And it’s the laughter that allows hope to creep back on the inhale.” – Will Durst
“Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.” – Benjamin Franklin
“Don’t believe every worried thought you have. Worried thoughts are notoriously inaccurate.” – Renee Jain
“Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” – Roy T. Bennett
“Don’t believe the things you tell yourself late at night.”
“Don’t lose yourself in your fear.”
“Every moment is a fresh beginning.” – T.S. Eliot
“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
“Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me.”
“I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor. ‘Never worry about your heart till it stops beating.’” – E. B. White
“I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
“I literally have to remind myself all the time, that being afraid of things going wrong isn’t the way to make things go right.”
“I will breathe. Worry will not control me. Stress will not break me.”
“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.” – The Dalai Lama
“No longer forward nor behind I look in hope and fear; But grateful take the good I find, The best of now and here.” – John G. Whittier
“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.” – Plato
“Surrender to what is, let go of what was, and have faith in what will be.” – Sonia Ricotti
“The great thing, then, in all education, is to make our nervous system our ally instead of our enemy.” – William James
“The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James
“The past is no good to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real–the here-and-now. Seize the day.”
“There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.” – Henry David Thoreau
“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
“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
“Worry a little bit every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.” – Mary Hemingway
“Worry does nothing but steal your joy and keep you very busy doing nothing.”
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou
“Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.” – William S. Burroughs
“You’re not going to master the rest of your life in one day just relax. Master the day. Then just keep doing that every day.”
“Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” – Dorothy Neddermyer
Inspirational Anxiety Quotes
“Always remember, if you have been diagnosed with PTSD, it is not a sign of weakness; rather, it is proof of your strength, because you have survived!”
“Do not let your difficulties fill you with anxiety; after all it is only in the darkest nights that stars shine more brightly.” – Ali Ibn Abi Talib
“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Don’t worry if people think you’re crazy. You are crazy. You have that kind of intoxicating insanity that lets other people dream outside of the lines and become who they’re destined to be.” – Jennifer Elisabeth
“Don’t let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after all, it is only in the darkest nights that stars shine more brightly.”
“Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety. It is a long succession of little decisions simply to be happy in the moment.” – J. Donald Walters
“It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.” – Mandy Hale
“We all have anxiety about things. We all have little insecurities, but eventually you have to face your fears if you want to be successful, and everybody has some fear of failure.” – Nick Saban
“While fear depletes power, faith gives wings for the soul’s elevation.” – T.F. Hodge
“Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges.” – Bryant McGill
“Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens” – Epictetus
“Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see, and once they have escaped them worry no more. We, however, are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines his unhappiness to the present.” – Seneca
“P.S. You’re not going to die. Here’s the white-hot truth: if you go bankrupt, you’ll still be okay. If you lose the gig, the lover, the house, you’ll still be okay. If you sing off-key, get beat by the competition, have your heart shattered, get fired…it’s not going to kill you. Ask anyone who’s been through it.” (I have, and have survived – how about you?” – Danielle LaPorte
“I am exhausted from trying to be stronger than I feel.”
“Maybe we tried to leave as much memories of ourselves with each other because we knew one day we wouldn’t be together any more.” – Makoto Shinkai
Social Anxiety Quotes
“Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness.”
“I’m a lonely person at heart, I need people, but my social anxiety prevents me from being happy.
“I don’t think people understand how stressful it is to explain what’s going on in your head when you don’t even understand it yourself.”
“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” – Charles Spurgeon
“I have this problem: I isolate myself, then become upset because I’m lonely.”
“A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.” – Aesop
“I feel as though my real personality is locked up in a box inside of me, and that box doesn’t open until I’m alone. It saddens me so much that I can’t find a way to show anyone that I’m actually intelligent and funny and good company.”
“All this hurrying from place to place won’t bring you any relief, for you’re travelling in the company of your own emotions, followed by your troubles all the way” – Seneca
Overcoming Anxiety Quotes
“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
“A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities.”
“Anxiety happens when you think you have to figure out everything all at once. Breathe. You’re strong. You got this. Take it day by day.” – Karen Salmansohn
“Becoming fearless isn’t the point. That’s impossible. It’s learning how to control your fear and how to be free from it.”
“Decisions, actions, behaviors, thoughts and emotions can all seem amped up when you live with anxiety, fear, panic, and hypervigilance.”
“Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” – Reinhold Niebuhr
“He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” – Shannon L. Alder
“I will breathe I will think of a solution I will not let my worry control me. I will not let me stress break me. I will simply breathe and it will be okay because I don’t quit.”
“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” – Amit Ray
“Inner peace begins the moment you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions.” – Pema Chodron
“Instead of worrying about what you cannot control, shift your energy to what you can create.” – Roy Bennett
“Smile, breathe, and go slowly.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
“Slow breathing is like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won’t make the storm goes away, but it will hold you steady until it passes.”
“The elimination diet: Remove anger, regret, resentment, guilt, blame and worry. Then watch your health, and life, improve.” – Charles Glassman
“To live by worry is to live against reality.” – E. Stanley Jones
“Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” – Swedish proverb
“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”
“Worry in the dark can make it even darker.” – Camron Wright
“You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” – Steve Maraboli
“Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions — not outside.” – Marcus Aurelius
Anxiety Quotes Bible
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10
“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” – Psalm 94:19
“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.” – John 14:1
“I sought the LORD, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.” – Psalm 34:4
“I want you to be free from anxieties.” – 1 Corinthians 7:32
“Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’” – Isaiah 35:4
“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” – Matthew 6:27
“Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” – 1 Peter 5:7
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.” – 2 Thessalonians 3:16
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” – Philippians 4:6
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” – Matthew 6:34
“Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” – Proverbs 12:25
“When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.” – Psalm 34:17
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” – Matthew 6:25
Living With Anxiety Quotes
“The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one.” – John C. Maxwell
“Living with anxiety is like being followed by a voice. It knows all your insecurities and uses them against you. It gets to the point when it’s the loudest voice in the room. The only one you can hear.”
“Living a life somewhere else in your mind is nothing more than being a prisoner where you are.” – Shannon L. Alder
“Hey you, keep living. It won’t always be this overwhelming.” – Jacqueline Whitney
“Chronic anxiety is a state more undesirable than any other, and we will try almost any maneuver to eliminate it. Modern man is living in anxious anticipation of destruction. Such anxiety can be easily eliminated by self-destruction. As a German saying puts it: ‘Better an end with terror than a terror without end.”
“Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” – William James
“Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries.” – Astrid Alauda
“He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears.” – Michel de Montaigne
“If you’re going through hell keep going.” – Winston Churchill
“In an era of stress and anxiety, when the present seems unstable and the future unlikely, the natural response is to retreat and withdraw from reality, taking recourse either in fantasies of the future or in modified visions of a half-imagines past.”
“Many of us feel stress and get overwhelmed not because we’re taking on too much, but because we’re taking on too little of what really strengthens us.” – Marcus Buckingham
“People think I’m weak. The fact is, they just don’t know now how strong I am struggling every single day to stay alive.”
“There is great beauty in going through life without anxiety or fear. Half our fears are baseless, and the other half discreditable.”
“We live only a few conscious decades, and we fret ourselves enough for several lifetimes.” – Christopher Hitchens
“Whatever is going to happen will happen, whether we worry or not.” – Ana Monnar
“People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” – George Bernard Shaw
Anxiety Attack Quotes
“The worst feeling in the world is trying to hold back a panic attack in public.”
“Most people don’t realize the strength it takes to pull yourself out of an anxiety attack. So if you’ve ever done that, I’m proud of you.”
“Don’t assume I’m weak because I have panic attacks. You’ll never know the amount of strength it takes to face the world every day.” – Unknown
“A panic attack goes from 0 to 100 in an instant. It’s halfway between feeling like you’ll faint and feeling like you’ll die.”
“It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” – Hans Selye
“I am severely overwhelmed with everything. It’s come to a point that even small tasks make me feel like breaking down and crying. Everything is just too much for me now.”
Anxiety Disorder Quotes
“This is one of the most frustrating things about having an anxiety disorder; knowing as you’re freaking out that there’s no reason to be freaked out, but lacking the ability to shut the emotion down.”
“If you trade your authenticity for safety, you may experience the following: anxiety, depression, eating disorders, addiction, rage, blame, resentment, and inexplicable grief.” – Brené Brown
“I over analyze situations because I’m scared of what will happen if I’m not prepared for it.”
“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” – Steve Maraboli
“My anxiety doesn’t come from thinking about the future but from wanting to control it.” – Hugh Prather
“My body thinks something is gravely wrong, but my brain doesn’t have a clue what to do about it, so it starts racing to the worst possible conclusions.”
“No amount of anxiety can change the future. No amount of regret can change the past.” – Karen Salmansohn
“No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen.”
“Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” – Kahlil Gibran
“Our stresses, anxieties, pains and problems arise because we do not see the world, others or even ourselves as worthy of love.” – Prem Prakash
“Physical comforts cannot subdue mental suffering, and if we look closely, we can see that those who have many possessions are not necessarily happy. In fact, being wealthy often brings even more anxiety.” – Dalai Lama
“Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important.” – Natalie Goldberg
“What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes.”
Depression And Anxiety Quotes
“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
“The other thing is that if you rely solely on medication to manage depression or anxiety, for example, you have done nothing to train the mind, so that when you come off the medication, you are just as vulnerable to a relapse as though you had never taken the medication.” – Daniel Goleman
“Keep yourself busy if you want to avoid depression. For me, inactivity is the enemy.” – Matt Lucas
“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
Conclusion
3 Things that Often Resolve Stress & Anxiety
- A 10-minute walk outside.
- A glass of water.
- A good night of sleep.
These anxiety quotes will help calm your mind and give you the courage to deal with your anxiety and fears. We’d also like to hear any quotes that resonate with you. After reading the anxiety quotes and quotes about fear, feel free to share them on your website, blog, or social page for your private viewing or to help others.