Depression is a mood illness that causes you to feel unhappy and uninterested all of the time, to the point where it interferes with your daily life. It is a frequent mental health issue that affects over 7% of the American population each year.
A person may be diagnosed with severe depression for a variety of reasons, ranging from simple biological factors to behavioral and societal concerns. Whatever the cause of depression, it’s critical to realize that there is aid available.
If you’ve come to this website because you’re depressed, please talk to someone — a friend, family member, counselor, doctor, or online service.
These depression quotes focus on defining depression, how it affects us, and how it can be conquered.
They tell us that we are not alone; even the most successful, wealthy, and well-known celebrities suffer from depression at times. We hope that reading these lines will help you better understand your emotions and put you in a better frame of mind.
130+ Depression Quotes That Capture Life with Depression
Depression is when you have lots of love, but no one’s taking. – Douglas Coupland
There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.― Laurell K. Hamilton
I can’t eat and I can’t sleep. I’m not doing well in terms of being a functional human, you know?― Ned Vizzini
I don’t want any more of this try, try again stuff. I just want out. I’ve had it. I am so tired. I am twenty and I am already exhausted.― Elizabeth Wurtzel
Our generation has had no great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.__Chuck Palahniuk
It’s recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.___Harry Truman
The sun stopped shining for me is all. The whole story is: I am sad. I am sad all the time and the sadness is so heavy that I can’t get away from it. Not ever.― Nina LaCour
Frustrations come because we impose our illusions on reality.___Osho
I might look successful and happy being in front of you today, but I once suffered from severe depression and was in total despair.__Ji-Hae Park
Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn’t change the heart of others– it only changes yours.― Shannon Alder
Depression on my left, loneliness on my right. They don’t need to show me their badges. I know these guys very well.___Elizabeth Gilbert
Some people are just not meant to be in this world. It’s just too much for them.― Phoebe Stone
Depression is the inability to construct a future. – Rollo May
Keep yourself busy if you want to avoid depression. For me, inactivity is the enemy.___Matt Lucas
If you are chronically down, it is a lifelong fight to keep from sinking.― Elizabeth Wurtzel
At times, I feel overwhelmed and my depression leads me into darkness.___Dorothy Hamill
Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?― John Keats
Depression taught me the importance of compassion and hard work, and that you can overcome enormous obstacles.___Rob Delaney
Maybe we all have darkness inside of us and some of us are better at dealing with it than others.― Jasmine Warga
You largely constructed your depression. It wasn’t given to you. Therefore, you can deconstruct it.___Albert Ellis
Depression is living in a body that fights to survive, with a mind that tries to die.
Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.– Stephen Wright
Perhaps depression is caused by asking oneself too many unanswerable questions.___Miriam Toews
The only thing more exhausting than being depressed is pretending that you’re not.___Unknown
It’s so difficult to describe depression to someone who’s never been there, because it’s not sadness. I know sadness. Sadness is to cry and to feel. But it’s that cold absence of feeling—that really hollowed-out feeling.___J.K. Rowling
I was so scared to give up depression, fearing that somehow the worst part of me was actually all of me.___Elizabeth Wurtzel
I used to be good friends with my depression, saying oh I’m so depressed, or life is terrible.___Tony Curtis
The five stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance – are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost. They are tools to help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. But they are not stops on some linear timeline in grief.___Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Depression, suffering and anger are all part of being human. – Janet Fitch
Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.― C.S. Lewis
Depression lies. It tells you you’ve always felt this way, and you always will. But you haven’t, and you won’t.___Halley Cornell
Many depressed people can only see their pains, and their hurts, and their resentments, and their failures. They can’t see the blue sky and the yellow leaves, you know?___Bill Richards
Every thought a person dwells upon, whether he expresses it or not, either damages or improves his life.___Lucy Mallory
It is very hard to explain to people who have never known serious depression or anxiety the sheer continuous intensity of it. There is no off switch.___Matt Haig
Depression is rage spread thin.– George Santayana
I’ll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. Still does.___Henry Rollins
I have had issues with depression all my life, and it’s probably true to say there was a tendency towards it even when I was very young, during my schooldays. There was often – and this is quite common with comics – a sense of not feeling as if I belonged anywhere.___Jack Dee
That’s how depression hits. You wake up one morning, afraid that you’re gonna live.___Elizabeth Wurtzel
Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.___Pythagoras
It’s a bit like walking down a long dark corridor, never knowing when the light will go on.– Neil Lennon
Enthusiasm is followed by disappointment and even depression, and then by renewed enthusiasm.___Murray Gell-Mann
Depression is frustrating. It’s knowing there’s so much to be grateful for and happy about and to enjoy, but you just can’t get there.___Allie Griffin
Suffering is not holding you; you are holding suffering. – Osho
If you know someone who’s depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather.___Stephen Fry
A depressing and difficult passage has prefaced every page I have turned in life.___Charlotte Brontë
Depression is, in part, grief for your own life not turning out how it should; grief for your own needs not being met.___Johann Hari
There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don’t seem to help.___Fred Rogers
Perhaps depression is caused by asking oneself too many unanswerable questions. – Miriam Toews
Pain is always emotional. Fear and depression keep constant company with chronic hurting.___Siri Hustvedt
The pupil dilates in darkness and in the end finds light, just as the soul dilates in misfortune and in the end finds God.___Victor Hugo
I do suffer from depression, I suppose. Which isn’t that unusual. You know, a lot of people do.___Amy Winehouse
Only those with skin as thick as elephant hide can hope to sail through their teens unscathed by self-doubt and bouts of depression.___Mariella Frostrup
I start to think there really is no cure for depression, that happiness is an ongoing battle, and I wonder if it isn’t one I’ll have to fight for as long as I live. I wonder if it’s worth it.___Elizabeth Wurtzel
When people don’t know exactly what depression is, they can be judgmental. – Marion Cotillard
That terrible mood of depression of whether it’s any good or not is what is known as The Artist’s Reward.____Ernest Hemingway
I was only able to start changing my life when I realized my depression was not a malfunction. It’s a signal. Your depression is a signal. It’s telling you something.___Johann Hari
If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.___Lao Tzu
Depression begins with disappointment. When disappointment festers in our soul, it leads to discouragement.___Joyce Meyer
Grief is depression in proportion to circumstance; Depression is grief out of proportion to circumstance.___Andrew Solomon
Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying.― John Green
Depressed means you need deep rest from the character you’ve been playing in the world. – Jim Carrey
Anger is energizing. The opposite of anger is depression, which is anger turned inward.___Gloria Steinem
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
Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.― C.S. Lewis
Almost everyone is overconfident except the people who are depressed, and they tend to be realists.___Joseph T. Hallinan
People who have never dealt with depression think it’s just being sad or being in a bad mood. That’s not what depression is for me; it’s falling into a state of grayness and numbness.___Dan Reynolds
Quotes about Depression
Depression is a kind of constricted consciousness.– Bill Richards
Depression is melancholy minus its charms – the animation, the fits.___Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor
When you’re surrounded by all these people, it can be lonelier than when you’re by yourself. You can be in a huge crowd, but if you don’t feel like you can trust anyone or talk to anybody, you feel like you’re really alone.― Fiona Apple
A big part of depression is feeling really lonely, even if you’re in a room full of a million people.___Lily Singh
That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end.___Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation
Depression is being sad and not remembering why. – Atticus
Depression isn’t a disease; depression is a normal response to abnormal life experiences.___Johann Hari, Lost Connections
Depression and anxiety are a symptom of too much consumption and too little creation. You were put on this earth to create.___Bill Masur
Losing your life is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living.____Jo Nesbo
Depression isn’t a war you win. It’s a battle you fight every day. You never stop, never get to rest. It’s one bloody fray after another.___Shaun David Hutchinson, We Are the Ants
Depression is a medical condition. We need to create a world where people are as comfortable seeking care for their minds as they are for their bodies.___Adam Grant
Depression doesn’t take away your talents—it just makes them harder to find.___Lady Gaga
I’ve suffered through depression and anxiety my entire life. I just want these kids to know that this modern thing, where everyone is feeling shallow and less connected…that’s not human.___Lady Gaga
Depression is being colorblind and constantly told how colorful the world is. – Atticus
The opposite of play is not work – the opposite of play is depression.___Stuart Brown
Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced… It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it’s a healthy feeling. It is a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.___J.K. Rowling
Clinically speaking, depression is a pessimistic sense of your own capabilities, and despondent lack of energy.___Jane McGonigal
Things like depression and obesity are global challenges.___Jane McGonigal
Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer.– Dorothy Rowe
All depression has its roots in self-pity, and all self-pity is rooted in people taking themselves too seriously.___Tom Robbins, Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
The fundamental delusion – there is something out there that will make me happy and fulfilled forever.___Naval Ravikant
I’ll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. Still does.___Henry Rollins
This is my depressed stance. When you’re depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand. The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you’ll start to feel better. If you’re going to get any joy out of being depressed, you’ve got to stand like this.___Charles Shultz
Depression and I are old friends but I do not court his company. – Laura K. Rhodes
The world of manic depression is a world of bad judgment calls.___Carrie Fisher
Depression isn’t about, ‘Woe is me, my life is this, that and the other’, it’s like having the worst flu all day that you just can’t kick.___Robbie Williams
Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: It is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken.___C.S. Lewis
Inspiration to Overcome Depression
Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.___Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle
No storm, not even the one in your life, can last forever. The storm is just passing over.___Iyanla Vanzant
Life begins on the other side of despair.– Jean-Paul Sartre
There is no normal life that is free of pain. It’s the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth.___Fred Rogers
Getting better from depression demands a lifelong commitment. I’ve made that commitment for my life’s sake and for the sake of those who love me.___Susan Poli Schultz
If you are depressed and anxious, the main thing I want to tell you is: your pain makes sense. It has meaning. You aren’t a machine with broken parts. You are a human being with unmet needs. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re crazy or broken. You deserve love and practical support.___Johann Hari
Anything that instills a sense of hope will at least temporarily help treat depression. – Irving Kirsch
Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.___Eckhart Tolle
With depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone.___Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Don’t trust your thought when you are depressed. It is highly unlikely that it is true. Whatever you are depressed about won’t last forever.___Haemin Sunim
Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Do not become bitter or hostile. Be hopeful, be optimistic.___John Lewis
Only stepping out of old ruts will bring new insights.___Andy Grove
The scientific evidence is clear that exercise significantly reduces depression and anxiety.– Johann Hari
You say you’re ‘depressed’ – all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.___David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
Choose everyday to forgive yourself. You are human, flawed and most of all worthy of love.___Alison Malee
Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness, and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest, and best things you will ever do.___Stephen Fry
Love your future more than your past. – Joe Dispenza
There will always be suffering. But we must not suffer over the suffering.___Alan Watts
Whereas pain is a physical experience, suffering is a mental one. It is the sense that things should be other than they are. Its antidote is acceptance.__Wu Hsin
We cannot simply sit and stare at our wounds forever. We must stand up and move on to the next action.___Haruki Murakami, 1Q84
I struggled with anxiety and depression and questioned whether or not I wanted to be alive anymore. It was when I hit this low that I decided to reach out and ask for the help of a licensed therapist. This decision ultimately helped save my life. You don’t have to wait for things.___Michael Phelps
My recovery from manic depression has been an evolution, not a sudden miracle.– Patty Duke
It’s brilliant, being depressed; you can behave as badly as you like.__Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
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
I’ve had some dark nights of the soul, of course, but giving in to depression would be a sellout, a defeat.___Christopher Hitchens
I need one of those long hugs where you kinda forget whatever else is happening around you for minute.___Marilyn Monroe
There are moments when troubles enter our lives and we can do nothing to avoid them. But they are there for a reason. Only when we have overcome them we will understand why they were there.___Paolo Coelho
I tend to get pretty depressed and I have some issues with anxiety and things like that … For me, it’s more psychological. Exercise is a means of expelling those demons.___Ryan Reynolds
You don’t have to live a lie. Living a lie will mess you up. It will send you into depression. It will warp your values.___Gilbert Baker
Honor yourself by not criticizing, judging, or denying what you feel. – Iyanla Vanzant
I’m not grateful for depression, but it honestly made me work harder and gave me the drive that I have to succeed and to make it work.___Lili Reinhart
Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.___William Gibson
To get rid of depression, I swim with dolphins.___Patt Stanger
Art saved me; it got me through my depression and self-loathing, back to a place of innocence.___Jeanette Winterson
Through my own struggles with depression, I discovered that knowledge, therapy, medication and education can provide the strength to get through it in one piece.___Susan Polis Schutz
Depression and anxiety can’t fit in your head if you’re cultivating feelings of joy and inspiration.___Austin Butler