Anxiety is the fat of the mind. It’s that thing that slows us down, holds us back, takes space for no good reason, and has no real use. This article presents a careful selection of anxiety quotes and sayings.
I’ve gone through hundreds of them, and these are the ones I’ve found most helpful and positive anxiety quotes. And just to clarify: these are quotes about overcoming anxiety. They are for inspiration—and not make you anxious.
(To read my other selections of quotes, check out my Best Articles page. And if you want to receive quotes like these regularly in your inbox, then subscribe to my free newsletter.)
Almost all of us struggle with anxiety on one level or another. Not necessarily anxiety as a mental health disorder—but the anxiety of living, which is inherent for many of us. It’s a sense of restlessness, worry, or even fear.
Anxiety makes us procrastinate, avoid, and feel stuck. It undermines our sense of self-confidence, by creating self-doubt and negative stories.
The meditation masters call this the monkey mind.
The good news is this: you can instead have a monk mind. It’s a happier mind. It’s more calm, centered, and focused. And it’s possible for you!
(At the bottom of this article you can download a free PDF version of the quotes collection.)
Anxiety Quotes
Despite the cloud of my depression and anxiety, I woke up every morning with a choice: to give up or trudge through. Trudging sucks. Giving up sucks. Sometimes life comes down to the lesser of two evils.
— Aaron Behr
Don’t let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after
— Ali Ibn Abi Talib AS
Whatever is going to happen will happen, whether we worry or not.
— Ana Monnar
Pressure is God’s way of increasing your capacity.
— Andrena Sawyer
Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.
— Buddha
If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.
— Amit Ray
Nothing is permanent in this wicked world — not even our troubles.
— Charlie Chaplin
If the mind can cause stress, the mind can alleviate it. It’s within our power to choose one thought over another — to choose optimism over pessimism.
— Ernest Cadorin
We live only a few conscious decades, and we fret ourselves enough for several lifetimes.
— Christopher Hitchens
“First you must give it a name,” said the snake. “Naming a thing takes away some of its power and gives it to you instead.”
— Claire Legrand
More often than not, the thing we fear is less than half the size of the fear it creates.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Anxiety is the fat of the mind. Meditation is the gym.
— Giovanni Dienstmann
Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.
— Charles Spurgeon
The anticipation of loss is much more frightening than the actual loss as anticipation leaves room for the imagination to create that which, in all likelihood, will never transpire.
— Craig D. Lounsbrough
Some situations are just like bad dreams, they’re only unbearable while we’re giving them our full attention.
— Curtis Tyrone Jones
It’s not going to kill you. 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.
— Danielle LaPorte
When you confront the monster you fear the most, you’ll defeat your fears.
— David D. Burns
If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.
— Dean Smith
You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.
— Dan Millman
To calm your anxious mind, fear not and love yourself without judgment.
— Debasish Mridha
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
— Dr. Seuss
What starts out as an intrusive thought can turn into an overwhelming concept if we “feed” it with more negative thinking.
— Eddie Capparucci
You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems
— Epictetus
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
— Eleanor Roosevelt
Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest taken between two deep breaths.
— Etty Hillesum
People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.
— George Bernard Shaw
When you’re feeling pressured or worried, either Produce, Pray, Work Out or just Breathe. Turn your Pressure into Power and Productivity. You got this!
— Jeanette Coron
Cleaning and organizing your personal space is a great way to take the edge off your anxiety – as long as you don’t take it too far.
— Jessica Moore
Anxiety’s like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you very far.
— Jodi Picoult
Just as anxiety can feed on itself, so can courage.
— John J. Ratey
I just give myself permission to suck. I find this hugely liberating.
— John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars
Calmness is the cradle of power.
— Josiah Gilbert Holland
Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.
— Kahlil Gibran
Worry leads to weariness.
— Lailah Gifty Akita
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
— Lao Tzu
What worries you masters you.
— John Locke
And yet, now that years have passed, I recall my troubles and wonder that they could distress me so much. It will be the same thing, too, with this trouble. Time will go by and I shall not mind about this either.
— Leo Tolstoy
For fast acting relief, try slowing down.
— Lily Tomlin
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.
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
Is this stress I’m feeling mine, or someone else’s?
— Matt Purcell
You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
— Martin Luther King
An untamed mind is usually engaged in the pursuit of unhappiness
— Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Stress is an confused state. It believes that everything is an emergency.
— Natalie Goldberg
Procrastination is the lazy cousin of fear. When we feel anxiety around an activity, we postpone it.
— Noelle Hancock
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
An anxious heart is like a string that’s out of tune.
— Naguib Mahfouz
Self-inflation and conceit are generally the external signs of inner emptiness and self-doubt; a show of pride is one of the most common covers for anxiety.
— Rollo May
Thanks to the imagination, there’s no end to things in this world that can trigger anxiety.
— Ryū Murakami
It can be a good thing, too, to learn to sit in your own weirdness.
— Sarah Wilson
You’re worried about what-ifs. Well, what if you stopped worrying?
— Shannon Celebi
You must learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway.
— Steve Maraboli
Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.
— Proverb
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
Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.
— Theodore Roosevelt
Smile, breathe, and go slowly.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
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
Tomorrow will take care of itself, so take care of today.
— Tiisetso Maloma
Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.
— Robert Eliot
Fear is the paralyzing emotion that inhibits or restricts normal feelings of love, confidence, and well-being.
— Tim LaHaye
You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
— Jon Kabat Zinn
Anxiety is having to remind myself that being afraid of things going wrong isn’t the way to make things go right.
— Unknown
Today I will not stress over things I can’t control.
— Lori Deschene
Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.
— Lee Brown
To venture causes anxiety, but not to venture is to lose one’s self.
— Søren Kierkegaard
Note to self: I don’t have to take this day all at once, but rather, one step, one breathe, one moment at a time. I am only one person. Things will get done when they get done.
— Unknown
Be gentle with yourself you’re doing the best you can.
— Vanguard Stationery
Anxiety is one little tree in your forest. Step back and look at the whole forest.
— Unknown
Anxiety happens when you think you that have to figure everything out.
— Karen Salmansohn
Worry pretends to be necessary, but serves no useful purpose.
— Eckhart Tolle
Your fear is 100% dependent on you for its survival.
— Steve Maraboli
Worrying is like walking around with an umbrella waiting for it to rain.
— Wiz Khalifa
Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.
— Khalil Gibran
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.
— Russ Harris
Worry does nothing but steal your joy and keep you very busy doing nothing.
— Unknown
No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen.
— Alan Watts
There is great beauty in going through life without anxiety or fear. Half our fears are baseless, and the other half discreditable.
— Christian Nestell Bovee
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.
— Mark Twain
Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.
— Victor Kiam
Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.
— Walter Anderson
When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
— Wayne Dyer
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
Let whatever you do today be enough.
— Daniell Koepke
Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. The best is yet to come.
— Zig Ziglar
If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
— Mary Engelbreit
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.
— Lao tzu
Act the way that you want to feel.
— Gretchen Rubin
What people in the world think of you is really none of your business.
— Martha Graham
Worry is a down payment on a problem you may never have.
— Joyce Meyer
To change ourselves effectively, we first had to change our perceptions.
— Stephen R. Covey
A positive attitude gives you power over your circumstances instead of your circumstances having power over you.
— Joyce Meyer
It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.
— Hans Selye
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
If we learn to open our hearts, anyone, including the people who drive us crazy, can be our teacher.
— Pema Chodron
The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.
— William James
In the end, just three things matter: How well we have lived. How well we have loved. How well we have learned to let go.
— Jack Kornfield
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
Every moment is a fresh beginning.
— T.S. Eliot
The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
— Confucius
Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.
— Jamie Paolinetti
The way you tell your story to yourself matters.
— Amy Cuddy
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
Trust yourself. You’ve survived a lot, and you’ll survive whatever is coming.
— Robert Tew
Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.
— Thich Nhat Hanh
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.
— Plato
Keep walking through the storm. Your rainbow is waiting on the other side.
— Heather Stillufsen
Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow.
— Swedish Proverb
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
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
He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Stop asking: Why is this happening to me? Start asking: How might I learn & grow from this?
— Karen Salmansohn
Everything good that has ever happened in your life happened because something changed. So don’t be so fearful of change, ok?
— Karen Salmansohn
Surrender to what is. Let go of what was. Have faith in what will be.
— Sonia Ricotte
Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.
— Hermann Hesse
Whatever has happened, has happened for good. Whatever is happening is also for good. Whaterver will happen, shal also be good.
— The Bhagavad Gita
When you realize how perfect everything is, you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.
— Buddha
It is better to travel well than to arrive.
— Buddha
Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.
— Dorothy Neddermyer
Moving Forward
How do you feel now, after reading all of these insightful quotes?
Do you have a better idea on what to change in order to better deal with anxiety, restlessness, and fear?
I hope this collection of thoughts has been helpful for you. As you can see, there are some recurring themes: meditation, changing your mindset, letting go, choosing one thought over another, etc.
It can be challenging to try to implement all these changes on your own.
It’s easy to feel overwhelm, confused about how to actually deal with anxiety. You can end up feeling alone and de-motivated.
But you don’t need to do all of this on your own. If you’d like my help in going from monkey mind to monk’s mind, then consider joining one of my meditation-based anxiety programs.
Here are your options. The first two are online programs, with an access to a community and myself. The third one is one-on-one coaching, limited to a handful of individuals who are committed to a deeper transformation.
Calm and Free
First steps in overcoming anxiety.
(short and affordable)
Limitless Life
The full program for anxiety.
(monthly membership)
