Inspirational Quotes for Self-Care and Mental Wellness

Mental health is an important aspect of overall wellbeing, but it is often ignored or stigmatized. These mental health quotes serve as a gentle reminder to take care of ourselves, manage our emotions, and treat ourselves with kindness.

Mental health is just as important as physical health. We should all take care of it every day. Whether you have been diagnosed with a condition such as anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder or would simply like to improve your outlook and thoughts, everyone should regularly care for their mind.

Mental health quotes are helpful no matter what your struggles may be. There are many ways of addressing mental health. From therapy to medication, yoga, and meditation. You may be looking for a mantra that you can repeat to yourself whenever you feel low or anxious. You could write it down on a card and stick it to your bathroom mirror every morning as a reminder.

You may be having a particularly difficult morning and you just can’t get motivated to leave bed. (You shouldn’t, of course.) While staying in bed is therapeutic, there are times when you want to get out of bed so that you can go for a coffee with a friend or do your workout. It can be useful to browse through a list of inspirational, strengthening and healing mental health quotations. We’ve compiled a list of some the best mental health quotes to help you improve your outlook, and remind yourself that you are not alone.

Read More: 70 Inspirational Self Care Sunday Quotes to Elevate Your Weekend

Inspiring Mental Health Quotes

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” – John Green

“It’s okay to take time for yourself. We give so much of ourselves to others, and we need to be fueled both physically and mentally. If we are in balance, it helps us in all our interactions.” – Faith Hill

“You are the one thing in this world, above all other things, that you must never give up on. When I was in middle school, I was struggling with severe anxiety and depression and the help and support I received from my family and a therapist saved my life. Asking for help is the first step. You are more precious to this world than you’ll ever know.” – Lili Reinhart

“I would say what others have said: It gets better. One day, you’ll find your tribe. You just have to trust that people are out there waiting to love you and celebrate you for who you are. In the meantime, the reality is you might have to be your own tribe. You might have to be your own best friend. That’s not something they’re going to teach you in school. So start the work of loving yourself.” – Wentworth Miller

“Self-care is giving the world the best of you, instead of what’s left of you.”- Katie Reed

“My dark days made me stronger. Or maybe I already was strong, and they made me prove it.” – Emery Lord

“Sometimes the people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.” – Joubert Botha

“You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared and anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a negative person. It makes you human.” – Lori Deschene

“This feeling will pass. The fear is real but the danger is not.” – Cammie McGovern

“Many survivors insist they’re not courageous: ‘If I were courageous I would have stopped the abuse.’ ‘If I were courageous, I wouldn’t be scared’… Most of us have it mixed up. You don’t start with courage and then face fear. You become courageous because you face your fear.” – Laura Davis

“I keep moving ahead, as always, knowing deep down inside that I am a good person and that I am worthy of a good life.” – Jonathan Harnisch

“You are not your illness. You have an individual story to tell. You have a name, a history, a personality. Staying yourself is part of the battle.” – Julian Seifter

“I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship.” – Amy March, from Little Women

“Your mental health is everything – prioritize it. Make the time like your life depends on it, because it does.” – Mel Robbins

“We are not our trauma. We are not our brain chemistry. That’s part of who we are, but we’re so much more than that.” – Sam J. Miller

“In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel ‘burnout’ setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective.” – The Dalai Lama

“It’s possible to live well, feel well, and also find happiness with bipolar disorder or any other mental illness [you’re] struggling with.” – Demi Lovato

“No need to hurry, no need to sparkle, no need to be anybody but oneself.” – Virginia Woolf

“I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” – Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

“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

“I found that with depression, one of the most important things you can realize is that you’re not alone. You’re not the first to go through it, you’re not gonna be the last to go through it,” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

“You are not alone. You are seen. I am with you. You are not alone.” – Shonda Rhimes

“The experience I have had is that once you start talking about [experiencing a mental health struggle], you realize that actually you’re part of quite a big club.” – Prince Harry

“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary.” – Fred Rogers

Mental Health Quotes About Depression

“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise again.” – Victor Hugo

“I found that with depression, one of the most important things you can realize is that you’re not alone. You’re not the first to go through it, you’re not gonna be the last to go through it.” – Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle Onassis

“In the middle of winter I at last discovered that there was in me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus

“Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside – remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.” – Charles Bukowski

“My recovery from manic depression has been an evolution, not a sudden miracle.” – Patty Duke

“Life is like a piano; the white keys represent happiness and the black show sadness. But as you go through life’s journey, remember that the black keys also create music.” – Ehssan

“Take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine.” – Charlotte Eriksson

“Just remember, you are not alone, in fact, you are in a very commonplace with millions of others. We need to help each other and keep striving to reach our goals.” – Mike Moreno

“The humanity we all share is more important than the mental illnesses we may not” – Elyn R. Saks

“Life doesn’t make any sense without interdependence. We need each other, and the sooner we learn that, the better for us all.” – Erik Erikson

Mental Health Quotes About Anxiety

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” – Walter Anderson

“Don’t believe everything you think.” – Unknown

“Make not your thoughts your prisons.” -William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

“No amount of anxiety can change the future. No amount of regret can change the past.” – Karen Salmansohn

Mental Health Quotes to Stay Strong

“The best way out is always through.”- Robert Frost

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls, the most massive characters are seared with scars.” – Khalil Gibran

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill

“Tough times never last, but tough people do!” – Robert Schuller

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin, from Winnie the Pooh

“Be patient and tough; some day this pain will be useful to you.” – Ovid

“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of the world but those who fight and win battles that others do not know anything about.” – Jonathan Harnisch

“If you were born with the weakness to fall, you were born with the strength to rise.” – Rupi Kaur

“Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” – Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” – Aristotle

“There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” – Leonard Cohen

“Increasing the strength of our minds is the only way to reduce the difficulty of life.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves” – Henry David Thoreau

“Promise me you’ll always remember – you’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” – Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh

“I am bent, but not broken. I am scarred, but not disfigured. I am sad, but not hopeless. I am tired, but not powerless. I am angry, but not bitter. I am depressed, but not giving up.” – Anonymous

Mental Health Quotes for Healing and Self-Care

“Healing takes time, and asking for help is a courageous step.” – Mariska Hargitay

“Being able to be your true self is one of the strongest components of good mental health.” – Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

“Take your time healing, as long as you want. Nobody else knows what you’ve been through. How could they know how long it will take to heal you?” – Abertoli

“If you are broken, you do not have to stay broken.”- Selena Gomez

“You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly okay to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared, and anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a negative person. It makes you human.” – Lori Deschene

“What I love about therapy is that they’ll tell you what your blind spots are. Although that’s uncomfortable and painful, it gives you something to work with.” – Pink

“What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.” – Plutarch

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.” – Brené Brown

“When you take care of yourself, you’re a better person for others. When you feel good about yourself, you treat others better.” – Solange Knowles

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go, they merely determine where you start.” – Nido Qubein

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” – Anne Lamott

“Change what you can, manage what you can’t.” – Raymond McCauley

“Self-care is how you take your power back.” – Lalah Delia

“Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” – Christopher Germer

Mental Health Awareness Quotes

“No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or a broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness.” – Elyn R. Saks

“Positive vibes only’ isn’t a thing. Humans have a wide range of emotions and that’s OK.” – Molly Bahr, LMHC

“It is okay to have depression, it is okay to have anxiety and it is okay to have an adjustment disorder. We need to improve the conversation. We all have mental health in the same way we all have physical health.” – Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

“Part of my identity is saying no to things I don’t want to do… I check in with myself throughout the day and I say, ‘Do I really want to do this?’ and if the answer is no, then I don’t do it. And you shouldn’t either.” – Lady Gaga

“Everyone experiences a version of anxiety or worry in their lives, and maybe we go through it in a different or more intense way for longer periods of time, but there’s nothing wrong with you.” – Emma Stone

“There isn’t anybody out there who doesn’t have a mental health issue, whether it’s depression, anxiety, or how to cope with relationships. Having OCD is not an embarrassment anymore – for me. Just know that there is help and your life could be better if you go out and seek the help.” – Howie Mandel

“Mental health is something that we all need to talk about, and we need to take the stigma away from it. So let’s raise the awareness. Let’s let everybody know it’s OK to have a mental illness and addiction problem.” – Demi Lovato

“Being vulnerable is actually a strength and not a weakness – that’s why more and more mental health is such an important thing to talk about. It’s the same as being physically sick. And when you keep all those things inside, when you bottle them up, it makes you ill.” – Cara Delevingne

“IWe would never tell someone with a broken leg that they should stop wallowing and get it together. We don’t consider taking medication for an ear infection something to be ashamed of. We shouldn’t treat mental health conditions any differently.” – Michelle Obama

“What I love about therapy is that they’ll tell you what your blind spots are. Although that’s uncomfortable and painful, it gives you something to work with.” – Pink

“Anyone can be affected, despite their level of success or their place on the food chain. In fact, there is a good chance you know someone who is struggling with it since nearly 20% of American adults face some form of mental illness in their lifetime. So why aren’t we talking about it?” – Kristen Bell

“I was with someone recently who asked: ‘Well, don’t you think that if you do too much therapy it will take away your artistic process?’ And I told them: ‘The biggest lie that we’ve ever been sold is that we as artists have to stay in pain to create.'” – Katy Perry

“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.” – Glenn Close

“You are in a much better position to serve others when your basis needs are met and your ‘tank is full’.”- Michael Hyatt

“You don’t need to find a lesson in your trauma.” – Jordan Pickell, MCP RCC

“No amount of therapy can or self care can make up for scarcity of food & drink, time, or financial resources.” – Whitney Goodman, LMFT

These quotes will offer you wisdom, inspiration, and hope, whether you’re struggling with mental health, or just want to know more.