If you're looking for a way to relax and decompress from the thoughts racing through your head, these anxiety quotes will help you find some much-needed relief when you feel like you're getting out of control.
Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, apprehension, and nervousness. Anxiety can affect your life and interfere with daily activities such as school, work, and relationships in some cases. Anxiety is a normal emotion. Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time. In some cases, the demands of daily life can make anxiety more common.
Anxiety can be beneficial at times. It can motivate you to complete tasks, work harder toward a goal, and warn you when you are in danger. Anxiety can help you identify potential threats and challenges, giving you time to prepare. Although dealing with anxiety can be difficult, the good news is that it is defeatable.
Quotes like the ones below serve as mini-therapy sessions. When you read a quote and it makes you feel good, gives you hope, or makes you feel better, that quote is good for you. Trusting that you'll have the resources you need when you need them reduces stress and allows you to enjoy the present moment.
Here is a collection of inspirational, calming, and uplifting anxiety quotes, sayings, and proverbs to help you deal with it.
Anxiety Quotes
1. “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
2. “Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.” ~ William Shakespeare
3. “You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you.” ~ Dan Millman
4. “Don’t waste your time in anger, regrets, worries, and grudges. Life is too short to be unhappy.” ~ Roy T. Bennett
5. “Surrender to what is. Let go of what was. Have faith in what will be.” ~ Sonia Ricotte
6. “Everything you have ever wanted, is sitting on the other side of fear.” ~ George Addair
7. “The way you tell your story to yourself matters.” ~ Amy Cuddy
8. “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
9. “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” ~ Jon Kabat-Zinn
10. “It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.” ~ Hans Selye
11. “Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
12. “You are the biggest enemy of your own sleep.” ~ Pawan Mishra
13. “Of all your troubles, great and small, the greatest are the ones that don’t happen at all.” ~ Thomas Carlyle
14. “What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.” ~ Martha Graham
15. “Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. The best is yet to come.” ~ Zig Ziglar
16. “You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.” ~ Wayne Dyer
17. “When I don’t have something to worry about, I worry. Nothing comes so naturally to a human being as anxiety and worry.” ~ Brian Richardson
18. “Don’t let your mind bully your body into believing it must carry the burden of its worries.” ~ Astrid Alauda
19. “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ~ Wayne Dyer
20. “Whatever is going to happen will happen, whether we worry or not.” ~ Ana Monnar
Quotes about Anxiety
21. “Never fear shadows. They simply mean there’s a light shining somewhere nearby.” ~ Ruth E. Renkel
22. “It’s not time to worry yet.” ~ Harper Lee
23. “Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right way has learned the ultimate.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard
24. “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” ~ William James
25. “Once you choose hope, anything is possible.” ~ Christopher Reeve
26. “You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.” ~ Steve Maraboli
27. “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.
28. “You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go, and see what happens.” ~ Mandy Hale
29. “All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
30. “Anxiety is the handmaiden of contemporary ambition.” ~ Alain de Botton
31. “Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” ~ Walter Anderson
32. “Nothing can be meaner than the anxiety to live on, to live on anyhow and in any shape.” ~ George Santayana
33. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” ~ Olin Miller
34. “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” ~ Henry Stanley Haskins
35. “Grief and constant anxiety kill nearly as many women as men die on the battlefield.” ~ Bill Vaughan
36. “Trust yourself. You’ve survived a lot, and you’ll survive whatever is coming.” ~ Robert Tew
37. “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
38. “Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you because it will.” ~ Cheryl Strayed
39. “I’m just suggesting that when you’re faced with fear and anxiety, don’t medicate. Meditate instead.” ~ Russell Simmons
40. “Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer.” ~ William S. Burroughs
Quotes on Anxiety
41. “Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
42. “Anxiety beclouds the future.” ~ Abraham Lincoln
43. “Living a life somewhere else in your mind is nothing more than being a prisoner where you are.” ~ Shannon L. Alder
44. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” ~ Steven Hayes
45. “If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.” ~ Pema Chodron
46. “Stress is an ignorant state. It believes everything is an emergency.” ~ Natalie Goldberg
47. “Just because I can’t explain the feelings causing my anxiety, doesn’t make them less valid.” ~ Lauren Elizabeth
48. “Each moment of worry, anxiety or stress represents lack of faith in miracles, for they never cease.” ~ T.F. Hodge
49. “Life is 10% of what you experience and 90% of how you respond to it.” ~ Dorothy M. Neddermeyer
50. “Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.” ~ Samuel Butler
51. “We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ~ Joseph Campbell
52. “No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.” ~ Virginia Woolf
53. “It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.” ~ Mandy Hale
54. “Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest taken between two deep breaths.” ~ Etty Hillesum
55. “Worry in the dark can make it even darker.” ~ Camron Wright
Inspirational Quotes for Anxiety
56. “Keep walking through the storm. Your rainbow is waiting on the other side.” ~ Heather Stillufsen
57. “Flowers grow back even after the harshest winters. You will too.” ~ Jennae Cecilia
58. “If you want to conquer overthinking, bring your mind to the present moment and reconnect it with the immediate world.” ~ Amit Ray
59. “Our stresses, anxieties, pains, and problems arise because we do not see the world, others, or even ourselves as worthy of love.” ~ Prem Prakash
60. “When I let go of what I am, I become what I want to be.” ~ Lao Tzu
61. “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
62. “There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
63. “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
64. “Although anxiety is part of life, never let it control you.” ~ Paulo Coelho
65. “He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” ~ Shannon L. Alder
66. “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” ~ Henry Ford
67. “There are far, far better things ahead than anything we leave behind.” ~ C. S. Lewis
68. “Neither comprehension nor learning can take place in an atmosphere of anxiety.” ~ Rose Kennedy
69. “You have a treasure within you that is infinitely greater than anything the world can offer.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
70. “By being yourself, you put something wonderful in the world that was not there before.” ~ Edwin Elliot
Quotes for Anxiety
71. “Silence is a lie that screams at the light.” ~ Shannon L. Alder
72. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” ~ Maya Angelou
73. “Everyone must imagine his own snakes because no one else’s snakes can ever be as awful.” ~ Tove Jansson
74. “There are these moments you think you won’t survive. And then you survive.” ~ David Levithan
75. “Anxiety’s like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.” ~ Jodi Picoult
76. “Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.” ~ Plato
77. “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.” ~ Epictetus
78. “Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.” ~ Erma Bombeck
79. “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
80. “Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.” ~ Norman Vincent Peale
Social Anxiety Quotes
81. “Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
82. “We acquire the strength we have overcome.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
83. “A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you.” ~ Joyce Meyer
84. “Peace is the result of retraining your mind to process life as it is, rather than as you think it should be.” ~ Wayne W. Dyer
85. “There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” ~ Epictetus
86. “Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.” ~ Søren Kierkegaard
87. “You have dug your soul out of the dark, you have fought to be here; do not go back to what buried you.” ~ Bianca Sparacino
88. “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” ~ Kahlil Gibran
89. “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
90. “Act the way that you want to feel.” ~ Gretchen Rubin
Anxiety Quotes Funny
91. “Now is the age of anxiety.” ~ W. H. Auden
92. “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh
93. “I know what it’s like to be afraid of your own mind.” ~ Dr.Reid
94. “Rule number one: Don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two: It’s all small stuff.” ~ Robert S. Eliot
95. “It’s sad, actually, because my anxiety keeps me from enjoying things as much as I should at this age.” ~ Amanda Seyfried
96. “Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.” ~ Swedish proverb
97. “If you’re going through hell keep going.” ~ Winston Churchill
98. “It ain’t no use putting up your umbrella till it rains!” ~ Alice Caldwell Rice
99. “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.” ~ Solomon
100. “For fast acting relief, try slowing down.” ~ Lily Tomlin
Living with Anxiety Quotes
101. “Nothing is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles.” ~ Charlie Chaplin
102. “Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will help create the fact.” ~ William James
103. “Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher
104. “Hey you, keep living. It won’t always be this overwhelming.” ~ Jacqueline Whitney
105. “What else does anxiety about the future bring you but sorrow upon sorrow?” ~ Thomas a Kempis
106. “While fear depletes power, faith gives wings for the soul’s elevation.” ~ T.F. Hodge
107. “Anxiety, it just stops your life.” ~ Amanda Seyfried
108. “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
109. “People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
110. “In order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did and why you no longer need to feel it.” ~ Mitch Albom
Depression and Anxiety Quotes
111. “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
112. “Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.” ~ Marcus Aurelius
113. “I believe a lot of disease comes from anxiety, loneliness.” ~ Tom Cochrane
114. “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 Churchill
115. “Anxiety is the hand maiden of creativity.” ~ T. S. Eliot
116. “Maybe you have to know the darkness before you can appreciate the light.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle
117. “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
118. “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
119. “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
120. “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
121. “How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened.” ~ Thomas Jefferson
122. “If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.” ~ Dean Smith
123. “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
Which of the following are your favorite anxiety quotes?
Anxiety is a normal emotion. With all of life's challenges and events, we are all bound to experience anxiety at some point.
You've probably noticed that not everyone is as concerned as you are. As a result, many people believe that the other person is stronger than they are.
The truth is that the other person simply has a different point of view. We're not talking about intelligence or education here. That isn't the case. It's much simpler and more approachable. Almost everyone becomes anxious when they consider the possibility of something bad happening and then focus on it. Anxious people frequently create elaborate scenarios in their heads about the problems that would arise if a bad thing happened. However, because we are not in the situation, we cannot solve it.
Anxiety is defined by researchers as "excessive anticipatory responding under conditions of threat uncertainty." In other words, you're attempting to solve a problem before it exists.
An adjustment in your thinking style can alleviate anxiety. Rather than attempting to solve a problem that does not yet exist, concentrate on the skills you will bring with you into the future. If you believe you lack the necessary skills, work on developing them so you feel more prepared for the future. Asking yourself what you can do right now helps you focus on what you have control over.
Anxiety can be beneficial as well. It can motivate you to achieve your goals and assist you in identifying potential threats and difficulties. These anxiety quotes should have helped to calm your mind and give you the courage to face your anxieties and fears.
Have you enjoyed and felt stress relieved with these anxiety quotes? Which of the following quotes was your favorite? Please let us know in the comments below.