40 Mental Health Quotes to Lift Your Spirits and Help You Feel Less Alone on World Mental Health Day 2022

Millions of Americans live with a mental illness. According to NAMI, one in five adults suffer from anxiety, depression or another mental health condition.

But we have good news: According to recent results of a survey on mental health conducted with Cleveland Clinic, 82% of people now believe that mental health is just as important as physical health. And having a mental illness doesn’t mean you can't achieve a state of emotional or psychological well-being. Through therapy, medication, meditation and more, countless individuals find comfort and peace.

Some also find solace reading mental health awareness quotes. After all, these words can be inspiring. They remind you you are not crazy or alone—actually, you're in good company. So if you are looking for some encouragement, read on. We’ve rounded up 40 mental health quotes to boost your mood, lift your spirits and inspire you to keep moving forward.

Here are the best quotes on mental health, mental health awareness, and motivational quotes about mental health. And trust us—you'll want to write these ones down.

Best Mental Health Quotes

1. “The advice I’d give to somebody that’s silently struggling is: You don’t have to live that way. You don’t have to struggle in silence. You can be un-silent. You can live well with a mental health condition, as long as you open up to somebody about it, because it’s really important you share your experience with people so that you can get the help that you need.” — Demi Lovato

2. “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

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

4. “I understand your pain. Trust me, I do. I’ve seen people go from the darkest moments in their lives to living a happy, fulfilling life. You can do it too. I believe in you. You are not a burden. You will never be a burden.” — Sophie Turner

5. “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 you are not the rain.” — Matt Haig

Related: The 30 Best Mental Health Apps

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

7. “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves” ― Henry David Thoreau

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

9. “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

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

Related: 10 Mental Health Podcasts

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

12. “Mental health affects every aspect of your life. It’s not just this neat little issue you can put into a box.” — Shannon Purser

13. "Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start." — Nido Qubein

14. “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 Rhinehart

15. “You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.”  — Dan Millman

Related: 101 Depression Quotes

16. "The best way out is always through." — Robert Frost

17. "Don’t believe everything you think."  — Unknown

18. "It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light." — Aristotle

19. “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.” — Unknown

20. “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

21. “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

22. “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.”— Anonymous proverb

23. “If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving.” —Martin Luther King, Jr.

24. “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

25. "I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." — Jimmy Dean

26. “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 

27. “Your illness is not your identity. Your chemistry is not your character.” — Pastor Rick Warren

28. “Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts.” — Buddha

29. “It is not the bruises on the body that hurt. It is the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind.” — Aisha Mirza

30. “Mental health... is not a destination but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you’re going.” — Noam Shpancer

Related: 101 Anxiety Quotes

31. "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

32. "Anyone can be affected [by mental illness] 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

33. “One small crack does not mean that you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart.” — Linda Poindexter

34. “Mental health is just as important as... physical health and deserves the same quality of support.” —  Kate Middleton

35. “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

36.“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

37. “The bravest thing I ever did was continuing my life when I wanted to die.”― Juliette Lewis

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

39. Deep breathing is our nervous system’s love language.” — Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy

40. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress." — Frederick Douglas

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