If you’ve been feeling a sense of sadness lately, read our collection of sad quotes to remind you that feeling down is OK, you don’t have to push it away or deny how you feel. The messages and quotations also contain words of hope and reassurance that the sadness will pass. We hope you feel validated, seen, and helped in your unhappiness by reading these messages.
Please consider sharing with loved ones or on social media, this makes us very happy!
1. “Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
2. “Wanting to be happy is not the worst thing in the world, but wanting it badly enough to make us depressed is.” – John Washington
3. “The good life is not one immune to sadness but one in which suffering contributes to our development.” Alain de Botton
4. “Behind every sweet smile, there is a bitter sadness that no one can ever see and feel.” – Tupac
5. “Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves.” – Emily Brontë
6. “Trying to avoid sadness is trying to avoid life.” – Maxime Lagacé
7. “When you feel sad, it’s okay. It’s not the end of the world.” – Mac Miller
8. “She was drowning but nobody saw her struggle.” – Unknown
9. “Tears are the words that the heart can’t express.” – Unknown
10. “We try to hide our feelings but we forget that our eyes can speak.” – Unknown
11. “Your sadness is a gift. Don’t reject it. Don’t rush it. Live it fully and use it as fuel to change and grow.” – Maxime Lagacé
12. “It was a fine cry – loud and long – but it had no bottom and it had no top, just circles, and circles of sorrow.” Toni Morrison
13. “Chasing happiness is guaranteed to make you unhappy.” – Ed Latimore
14. “It’s sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew.” – Henry Rollins
15. “Don’t get lost in your pain, know that one day your pain will become your cure.” – Rumi
16. “I love crying in the rain because when I do, nobody can hear me.” –Unknown
17. “Tears come from the heart and not from the brain. – Leonardo Va Vinci
18. “Some days, you’ll feel sad without knowing why. Like you lost something very precious but forgot what it was, or you miss someone you never met.” – Unknown
19. “What a sad story, I thought for so long. Not that I now think it was happy. But I think it is true, and thus the question of whether it is sad or happy has no meaning whatever.” – Bernhard Schlink
20. “How to be unhappy: stay inside all day, move as little as possible, spend more than you earn, take yourself (and life) too seriously, look for reasons why things won’t work, always consume, never contribute, resent the lucky and successful, never say hello first, be unreliable.” – James Clear
21. “The perfected future never arrives. Life is full of seemingly endless trouble, and then life ends. Find peace in the imperfect present.” – The Stoic Emperor
22. “A sad soul can kill you quicker than a germ.” – John Steinbeck
23. “It’s not about forcing happiness; it’s about not letting sadness win.” – Unknown
24. “When I’m sad I just sing, and then I realize my voice is worse than my problems.” – Unknown
25. “I tell people I’m tired. But in reality, I’m sad.” – Unknown
26. “Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
27. “Blaming other people for things that are going wrong guarantees your continued misery.” – Justin Kan
28. “Feeling lost, crazy and desperate belongs to a good life as much as optimism, certainty and reason.” – Alain de Botton
29. “You don’t need water to feel like you’re drowning, do you?” – Jodi Picoult
30. “Many people are alive but don’t touch the miracle of being alive.” – Thich Nhat Hanh
31. “Never be afraid of tears. Tear-filled eyes are capable of seeing truth. Tear-filled eyes are capable of seeing the beauty of life.” – Osho
32. “We’re taught to be ashamed of confusion, anger, fear and sadness, and to me, they’re of equal value to happiness, excitement and inspiration.” -Alanis Morissette
33. “Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.” – Oscar Wilde
34. “Don’t ignore the lessons of pain nor walk the same path again, or it may happen again. Strive to preserve your new-found peace.” – Terry Mark
35. “Sadness flies away on the wings of time.” – Jean de La Fontaine
36. “When you’re happy you enjoy the music, but when you’re sad you understand the lyrics.” – Frank Ocean
37. “Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.” – Kahlil Gibran
38. “We must understand that sadness is an ocean, and sometimes we drown, while other days we are forced to swim.” – R.M. Drake
39. “Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.” – Percy Bysshe Shelley
40. “If you didn’t remember something happening, was it because it never had happened? Or because you wished it hadn’t?” – Jodi Picoult
41. “We never taste happiness in perfection, our most fortunate successes are mixed with sadness.” – Pierre Corneille
42. “Life is made of so many partings welded together.” – Charles Dickens
43. “Sad things happen. They do. But we don’t need to live sad forever.” – Mattie Stepaneke
44. “Sometimes we get sad about things and we don’t like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don’t know why we are sad, so we say we aren’t sad but we really are.” –Mark Haddon
45. “The pain never really goes away; you just elevate and get used to it by growing stronger.” – Ritu Ghatourey
Holly Jaskolka is a certified Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner, yoga instructor, and an impassioned advocate for holistic well-being. Fueled by her love for animals and wanderlust, Holly leads a plant-based lifestyle that she complements with immersive travel experiences. When she’s not jet-setting to uncover the world’s hidden gems, she’s empowering individuals to heal emotionally, particularly those grappling with the aftermath of breakups. Connect with Holly on LinkedIn.
