48 Mental Health Quotes: Turning Struggle Into Strength

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A list of mental health quotes for resilience, self-care, and success. Break the stigma and build a psychologically safe place for everyone!

Your organization’s greatest asset is the well-being of its people. Building mental strength isn’t just a personal goal – it’s a fundamental pillar of professional development and leadership. The following mental health quotes are curated to provide wisdom from psychologists, philosophers, and inspirational figures who understand the journey from challenge to growth.

(by Jonathan M. Pham)

Short Mental Health Quotes

  1. It’s okay not to be okay. – Michael Clifford
  1. We are all broken – that’s how the light gets in. – Ernest Hemingway
  1. He who is brave is free. – Seneca
  1. The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled. – Plutarch
  1. Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so. – Lemony Snicket

short mental health quotes

Short positive mental health quotes

Inspirational Mental Health Quotes

  1. Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. – J. K. Rowling
  1. The best way out is always through. – Robert Frost
  1. Success is not the absence of self-doubt; it’s the resilience to move forward despite it. – Felecia Etienne
  1. Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start. – Nido Qubein
  1. My dark days made me strong. Or maybe I already was strong, and they made me prove it. – Emery Lord
  1. Reflect on how many things have happened that you didn’t want, and yet they turned out for the best. – Musonius Rufus

Read more: 85 Resilience Quotes for Work – A Dose of Daily Fortitude

inspirational mental health quotes

Mental health motivational quotes

Quotes on Asking for Help

  1. The best advice I can give to anyone going through a rough patch is to never be afraid to ask for help. – Demi Lovato
  1. Getting help isn’t a sign of weakness – it’s a sign of strength. – Michelle Obama
  1. Ask for help. You need it more than you know. – Marshall Goldsmith
  1. You must always check things out by going to the person in question and asking for his or her help: “Dear one, I am suffering so much, help me please.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Read more: 60 Collaboration Quotes – Unlocking Collective Power

quotes on asking for help

Mental health matters quotes

Mental Health Awareness & Stigma Quotes

  1. What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, more unashamed conversation. – Glenn Close
  1. I think it’s really important to take the stigma away from mental health… My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. – Kerry Washington
  1. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shame us all. – Bill Clinton
  1. Mental illness is real. And like everything else in life, it operates on a spectrum… The only real shame is on us for not being willing to speak openly. – Oprah Winfrey
  1. Emotional pain is not something that should be hidden away and never spoken about. – Steven Aitchison

Read more: 70 Self Awareness Quotes – Insights for Growth & Abundance

emotional pain should not be hidden

Mental health day quotes

Quotes on Mental Illness & Struggle

  1. The thing about having a mental breakdown is that no matter how obvious it is that you’re having one, it is somehow not obvious to you. I’m fine, you think. – Tara Westover
  1. Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. – Sigmund Freud
  1. 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
  1. A sick thought can devour the body’s flesh more than fever or consumption. – Guy de Maupassant
  1. Mental health problems don’t 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

Read more: 60 Self Love Quotes – From Insecurity to Inner Confidence

inspirational quote for someone who is struggling

Inspirational quote for someone who is struggling

Mental Health Quotes: Self-Care & Self-Acceptance

  1. The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change. – Carl Rogers
  1. Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots. – Elizabeth Gilbert
  1. Being in touch with the joys of childhood can be an excellent way of dealing with challenging times. – Diana Raab
  1. Self-care is how you take your power back. – Lalah Delia
  1. Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you. – Anne Lamott

Read more: 35 Work Life Balance Quotes – Work Smarter, Live Fuller

mental health self care quotes

Self care quotes

Mindfulness & Perspective Quotes

  1. The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. – John Milton
  1. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. – Matthew 6:34
  1. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves. – Buddha
  1. Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally. – Jon Kabat-Zinn
  1. Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Read more: 70 Self Awareness Quotes – Insights for Growth & Abundance

feelings come and go like clouds

Powerful mental strength quote

Philosophical Mental Health Quotes

  1. Mental health is not a destination but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going. – Noam Shpancer, ‘The Good Psychologist’
  1. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. – Carl Jung
  1. Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. – Carl Jung
  1. We cultivate love when we allow our most vulnerable and powerful selves to be deeply seen and known, and when we honor the spiritual connection that grows from that offering with trust, respect, kindness, and affection. – Brene Brown
  1. Life cannot be lived nor can death be faced without anxiety. Anxiety is guide as well as enemy and can point the way to authentic existence. The task of the therapist is to reduce anxiety to comfortable levels and then to use this existing anxiety to increase a patient’s awareness and vitality. – Irvin D. Yalom, ‘Existential Psychotherapy’

mental health quotes by psychologists

Mental health quotes by psychologists

Mental Health Quotes for Work

  1. Burnout is about being over-committed and under-resourced, not lazy. – Dr. Pooja Lakshmin
  1. It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it. – Lou Holtz
  1. Create a culture where it’s safe to ask for help and where mental health is treated with the same importance as physical health. – Adam Grant
  1. The workplace must be a psychologically safe space for everyone. Full stop. – Simon Sinek
  1. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Take care of yourself first. – Anonymous

Read more: 45 Workplace Wellness Quotes – Beyond the Paycheck

you cant pour from an empty cup

Deep quote on strength

Funny & Relatable Mental Health Quotes

  1. Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves? – Robin Williams
  1. Freud: If it’s not one thing, it’s your mother. – Robin Williams
  1. When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained. – Mark Twain

Read more: 75 Positive Thinking Quotes – Here’s to Your Best Self

funny relatable mental health quotes

Cute mental health quotes

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