Learning how to let go is a universal need, and a skill that can make your life happier, more peaceful, and even more productive. Of all us have one or more “sticky thoughts” that are not really doing anything for us, and are not really pleasant—yet we find it hard to let go or move on. In this post, I share with you my collection of letting go quotes.
Each of these quotes is a powerful reminder that letting go is both possible and desirable. They build awareness of the whole process of attachment and letting go. Whether you need to let go of grief, a broken relationship, trauma, past emotional hurt or abuse, or regret over something you did, these quotes can be the first step to have you looking in the right direction.
At the bottom of this page you will be able to download a Free PDF with all these quotes.
Letting go is one of the essential virtues for life. May this page inspire you to move forward and live a life with more freedom, lightness and presence!
This is a video with the summary of some of the letting go tips found in these quotes:
Letting Go Quotes
“Things are as they are—we suffer because we imagined different.”
– Rachel Wolchin
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”
– Herman Hesse
“We do not heal the past by dwelling there; we heal the past by living fully in the present.”
– Marianne Williamson
“One problem with gazing too frequently into the past is that we may turn around to find the future has run out on us.”
– Michael Cibenko
“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.”
– Catherine Ponder
“I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but to move forward.”
– Fridtjof Nansen
“To let go does not mean to get rid of. To let go means to let be. When we let be with compassion, things come and go on their own.”
– Jack Kornfield
“You can’t possibly embrace that new relationship, that new companion, that new career, that new friendship, or that new life you want, while you’re still holding on to the baggage of the last one. Let go… and allow yourself to embrace what is waiting for you right at your feet.”
– Steve Maraboli
“Letting go is the willingness to change your beliefs in order to bring more peace and joy into your life instead of holding onto beliefs that bring pain and suffering.”
– Hal Tipper
“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”
– Steve Maraboli
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
– Lao Tzu
“Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.”
– Paulo Coelho
“If you want to forget something or someone, never hate it, or never hate him/her. Everything and everyone that you hate is engraved upon your heart; if you want to let go of something, if you want to forget, you cannot hate.”
– C. JoyBell C.
“Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.”
– Deborah Reber
“Letting go means to come to the realization that some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.”
– Steve Maraboli
“Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.”
– Steve Maraboli
“Once you realize you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make.”
– Roy T. Bennett
“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.”
– Eckhart Tolle
“Sometimes people come into your life just to teach you how to let go.”
– Unknown
“Letting go isn’t a one-time thing, it’s something you have to do every day, over and over again.”
– Dawson’s Creek
“If you want to fly in the sky, you need to leave the earth. If you want to move forward, you need to let go the past that drags you down.”
– Amit Ray
“If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you’re allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.”
– Shannon L. Alder
“One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.”
– Brigitte Nicole
“Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing that there’s a future.”
– Daphne Rose Kingma
“One of the simplest ways to stay happy is letting go of the things that make you sad.”
– Unknown
“One of the happiest moments in life is when you find the courage to let go of what you cannot change.”
– Unknown
“Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.”
– Erich Fromm
“We need to learn to let go as easily as we grasp and we will find our hands full and our minds empty.”
– Leo F. Buscaglia
“There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.”
– Unknown
“Anything you can’t control is teaching you how to let go.”
– Jackson Kiddard
“I’m guilty of giving people more chances than they deserve but when I’m done, I’m done.”
– Turcois Ominek
“I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but to move forward.”
– Fridtjof Nansen
“The only real battle in life is between hanging on and letting go.”
– Shannon L. Alder
“You only struggle because you’re ready to grow but aren’t willing to let go.”
– Drew Gerald
“You will evolve past certain people. Let yourself.”
– Mandy Hale
“Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.”
– Tony Schwartz
“To let go is to release the images and emotions, the grudges and fears, the clingings and disappointments of the past that bind our spirit.”
– Jack Kornfield
“A bridge can still be built, while the bitter waters are flowing beneath.”
– Anthony Liccione
“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”
– Lyndon B. Johnson
“Once you realize you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make.”
– Roy T. Bennett
“Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energy moving forward together towards an answer.”
– Denis Waitley
“Let go, or be dragged.”
– Unknown
“Anything I cannot transform into something marvelous, I let go.”
– Anais Nin
Attachment: a prison of our own making
“In the process of letting go you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.”
– Deepak Chopra
“The day I understood everything, was the day I stopped trying to figure everything out. The day I knew peace was the day I let everything go.”
– Unknown
“You’ve got to make a conscious choice every day to shed the old – whatever “the old” means for you.”
– Sarah Ban Breathnach
“Life moves on and so should we.”
– Spencer Johnson
“Let go of your attachment to being right, and suddenly your mind is more open.”
– Ralph Marston
“Letting go may sound so simple, but rarely is it a one-time thing. Just keep letting go, until one day it’s gone for good.”
– Eleanor Brownn
Why let go of yesterday? Because yesterday has already let go of you.
– Steve Maraboli
“We keep ourselves so tied up in regretting the past and fearing the future that we don’t have any energy left to figure out who we are and what we want to create right now.”
– Gay Hendrix
“The decision to let go of that which has completed its course in your experience is even more important than the decision to welcome new ideas. You cannot walk forward by looking backward. New wine cannot be put into old bottles, for the Bible states that the old bottles will break. You intuitively know what should depart from your life.”
– Raymond Charles Barker
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”
– Alexander Graham Bell
“Your past does not equal your future.”
– Anthony Robbins
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
– Buddha
“Don’t be afraid to let go of this acquired, invented identity; this false feeling of ‘I.’ That is like being afraid to let go of a headache. That is what the imaginary ‘I’ is—one great big headache.”
– Vernon Howard
“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
“Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”
– Guy Finley
“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”
– Raymond Lindquist
“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
I hope you enjoyed these, and that they serve you in your journey of letting go.
Letting go can happen at once, and for good. But more often than not, it is a process that takes time, and is aided by several tools and practices. I have recently developed a comprehensive online course on how to let go, integrating tools from the contemplative traditions (such as meditation and breathing practices) as well as positive psychology.
To learn more, click on the image above.
Letting Go Quotes PDF
Finally, here is the PDF version of the post, as promised.
