100 Inspiring Quotes to Give You Strength When Feeling Low

Looking for some words of encouragement to give you strength when you’re feeling down or going through hard times?

When life gets challenging and you’re feeling low a little motivation can really help.

This allows us to push that low, depressed feeling out of the way in order to value ourselves more and open ourselves up to feeling good.

One great way I’ve found that heals the mind and soul is uplifting, feel-good quotes.

They serve as a little reminder that things will get better and you can get through this.

You can also share these words of encouragement to a friend feeling down, to help lift their spirits.

Read through these inspirational quotes and let me know in the comments the quote that gives you strength and makes you feel better.

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If you need more support from your loved ones, share this article with them: Encouraging Words for a Friend Going Through a Tough Time

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How to Use These Quotes When You’re Feeling Down

When life gets you down just being here and reading these quotes about strength in hard times is one little thing you can do to help you focus on the positive.

Before I share these quotes of strength, here are some positive ways you can use these words of wisdom.

1. Write your favourite quotes in a journal or daily planner

2. Get creative and use these feeling low quotes to practice brush lettering in your bullet journal

3. Save these quotes to your Pinterest boards (for more inspiration you can follow me here)

4. Use these quotes as inspiration to write positive affirmations

5. Say these quotes out loud when you need them most

6. Share one of these feeling down quotes to give a friend or loved one strength

7. Write a quote every day on a post-it note and post it to the fridge

8. Read these inspirational quotes when you feel most vulnerable – before bed or first thing in the morning is a good time

9. Share these quotes with your loved ones to let them know how you’re feeling

Related: 9 Ways To Stay Positive During Difficult Times

100 Inspiring Quotes to Give You Strength When You’re Feeling Low:

As you read through these powerful quotes, just remind yourself that you are loved, you are worthy and what you’re going through today is not your tomorrow.

Feeling down is a normal part of our humanity. Saying that, we can use motivational words of support to help us through or worst days.

Here are some of my favorite quotes that I hope you will love too.

1. “Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis

2. “I am thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have come across my strength.” – Alex Elle

3. “Never be ashamed of a scar. It means you were stronger than whatever tried to hurt you.” – Unknown

4. “Once you choose hope, anything is possible.” – Christopher Reeve

Once You Choose Hope, Anything is Possible - Christopher Reeve Click To Tweet

5. “Until you’re broken you don’t know what you’re made of. It gives you the ability to build yourself all over again, but stronger than ever…” – Melissa Molomo

Want more inspiration? Find more quotes here. 

6. “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.” — Fred Rogers

7. “Owning your story is the bravest thing you’ll ever do.”

– Brené Brown

8. Forgive those who insult you, attack you, belittle you or take you for granted.  But more than this… forgive yourself for allowing them to hurt you.” – Unknown

9. “There is a difference between giving up and knowing when you’ve had enough.” – Unknown

Related: 65 Gratitude Quotes and Being Thankful Sayings

10. “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”  – Buddha

More Quotes To Give You Strength When Feeling Low

11. “Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.”

– Confucius

12. “The most beautiful people I’ve known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

13. “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” – Les Misérables

14. “As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being re-directed to something better.” – Dr. Steve Maraboli

15. “Respect yourself enough to say ‘I deserve peace‘ and walk away from people or things that prevent you from attaining it.” – Jericho Silvers

16. “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one.” – Michael McMillan

You can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one - Michael McMillan Click To Tweet

17. “Every day may not be good, but there is some good in every day.” – Alice Morse Earle

18. “One of the happiest moments in life is when you find the courage to let go of what you cannot change.” – Unknown

19. “Stop focusing on how stressed you are and remember how blessed you are.” – Unknown

20. “One has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear.”

– Paulo Coelho

21. “Anyone can give up; it is the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone would expect you to fall apart, now that is true strength.” – Chris Bradford

22. “Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.” – Buddha

23. “I survived because the fire inside me burned brighter than the fire around me.” – Joshua Graham

24. “Your hardest times often lead to the greatest moments of your life. Keep going. Tough situations build strong people in the end.” – Roy T. Bennett

25. “The struggle you’re in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow. Don’t give up.” – Robert Tew

26. “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.” – Brené Brown

Quotes About Strength In Hard Times

27. “Whenever you feel down, remember it is always daylight somewhere on this rock we call Earth. Whenever you are belittled by a human, remember that she or he does not represent the whole for the Earth is way bigger than any puny creature you may encounter.” – Lamine Pearlheart

29. “When written in Chinese the word “crisis” is composed of two characters – one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy

30. “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway

31. “Don’t ever underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”

– Michelle Obama

​32. “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas A. Edison

33. “A diamond is a chunk of coal that did well under pressure.” – Henry Kissinger

34. “Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you; they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.” – Bernice Johnson Reagon

35. “Being strong doesn’t mean you’ll never get hurt. It means even when you get hurt, you’ll never let it defeat you.”

– Unknown

36. “Never apologize for being sensitive or emotional. Let this be a sign that you’ve got a big heart and aren’t afraid to let others see it. Showing your emotions is a sign of strength.” – Brigitte Nicole

38. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” – Maya Angelou

39. “We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” –  Barbara De Angelis

40. “Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strengths.” – Corrie Ten Boom

41. “Even when you are feeling down, you have to live your life positively, that way, happy days and happy feelings will come to you some day.” – Kim Hyun-Joong

42. “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won.” – Mahatma Gandhi

43. “You not supposed to feel down over whatever happen to you. I mean, you’re supposed to use whatever happen to you as some type of upper, not a downer.” – Bob Marley

44. “If you have been brutally broken but still have the courage to be gentle to others, then you deserve a love deeper than the ocean itself.” – Nikita Gill

45. “There’s always a way through every challenge. You need a heart full of commitment. A lens focused on positivity. And a willingness to travel unexplored paths. Faith forward. You’ll get there.” – Karen Salmansohn

47. “Worrying won’t stop the bad stuff from happening. It just keeps you from enjoying the good.” – Mandy Hale

Positive Quotes When You’re Having a Bad Day

46. “You can become blind by seeing each day as a similar one. Each day is a different one; each day brings a miracle of its own. It’s just a matter of paying attention to this miracle.” – Paulo Coelho

47. You’ll have good days, bad days, overwhelming days, too tired days, “I’m awesome” days, “I can’t go on” days, and every day you’ll still show up.
– Tiny Buddha

48. “Sometimes in life, we need a few bad days in order to keep the good ones in perspective.” – Colleen Hoover

49. “It’s just a bad day, not a bad life.”

– Mary Engelbreit

50. “Some days are just bad days, that is all. You have to experience sadness to know happiness, and I remind myself that not every day is going to be a good day, that’s just the way it is.” – Dita Von Tesse

51. “You have to remember that the hard days are what make you stronger. The bad days make you realize what a good day is. If you never had any bad days, you would never have that sense of accomplishment.” – Aly Raisman

52. “You don’t develop courage by being happy in your relationships every day. You develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.” – Epicurus

53. “Sail through the good days, and on bad days pick a spot of blue sky to steer toward.” – Richelle E. Goodrich

54. “You’re having a bad day? Think of those who didn’t wake up this morning, and can no longer live this day.” – Patty Medina

55. “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

56. “Remember the tough times. They’ll help you appreciate the good times even more deeply”. – Unknown

57. “Even when bad things happen you have to try to use those bad things in a positive manner and really just take the positive out of it.” – Natalie du Toit

59. “It’s a hard life sometimes and the biggest temptation is to let how hard it is be an excuse to weaken.” – Walter Dean Myers

60. “The only thing worse than a bad day is no day at all.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Depression Quotes To Help You Feel Understood

I have found that sharing quotes to help others understand what you’re going through can be really healing. So, see if any of these resonate with you and share with those you need support from.

This first one is how I felt in my lowest point of depression and is quite emotional for me to read even though I’m feeling so much better now…

61. “Depression is feeling like you’ve lost something but having no clue when or where you last had it. Then one day you realize what you lost is yourself.”

– Anonymous

62. “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

64. “I’ll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. Still does.”- Henry Rollins

65. “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

66. “I need one of those long hugs where you kinda forget whatever else is happening around you for a minute.” – Marilyn Monroe

67. “It is that feeling when you are not necessarily sad, but just really empty” – Unknown.

68. “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

69. “I want to take a nap. I am not tired or sleepy, I just don’t want to be awake.” -Unknown

70. “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

71. “There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” – Laurell K. Hamilton

72. “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

73. “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

74. “She wasn’t sad anymore, she was numb, and she knew somehow numb was worse.” – Atticus

75. “You are strong enough to face it all, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now” – Unknown

76. “A big part of depression is feeling really lonely, even if you’re in a room full of a million people.” – Lilly Singh

77. “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

78. “Sometimes, all you can do is lie in bed, and hope to fall asleep before you fall apart.” – William C. Hannan

79. “People think depression is sadness. People think depression is crying. People think depression is dressing in black. But people are wrong. Depression is the constant feeling of being numb. Being numb to emotions, being numb to life. You wake up in the morning just to go to bed again.” – Anonymous

80. “She’s battling things her smile will never tell you about.” – Jonny Ox

More Encouraging Quotes For Hard Times

81. “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and twice as beautiful as you’ve ever imagined.”

– Dr. Seuss

82. “You don’t have to control your thoughts; you just have to stop letting them control you.” – Dan Millman

83. “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” – Robert H Schuller

84. “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.” – Joshua J. Marine

85. “Taking care of yourself makes you stronger for everyone in your life… including you.” – Kelly Rudolph

86. “Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” – Bob Riley

87. “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan

88. “Inside of a ring or out, ain’t nothing wrong with going down. It’s staying down that’s wrong.” – Muhammad Ali

89. “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling

90. “There is a saying in Tibetan, ‘Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.’ No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that’s our real disaster.“ – Dalai Lama

92. “Nothing can dim the light which shines from within.“ – Maya Angelou

93. “On the other side of a storm is the strength that comes from having navigated through it. Raise your sail and begin.” – Gregory S. Williams

94. “It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and anger flow in tears when they need to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it.” – Fred Rogers

95. “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” – Ann Landers

96. “Keep going and keep growing. Never allow those who do not know where you are going to stop you from going where you should be going.” – Gift Gugu Mona

97. “I always tell my kids if you lay down, people will step over you. But if you keep scrambling, if you keep going, someone will always, always give you a hand. Always. But you gotta keep dancing, you gotta keep your feet moving.” – Morgan Freeman

98. “We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”

– Martin Luther King

99. “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 will we understand why they were there.” – Paulo Coelho, The Fifth Mountain

100. “Hard times, when held with open hands and a tender heart, can prepare us for the future.” – Cindee Snider Re

Quotes to Give You Strength When You’re Feeling Low: A reminder

After reading these words of encouragement I hope you realize just how important you are.

You inspire so many people.

You are unique. You are loved. You are enough.

Never forget that you deserve to live every moment in life to the fullest and to do this supporting your mental health and well-being is paramount.

Next Step: Try Mood Tracking

If you’ve never tried mood tracking, this is a powerful tool to help when you’re going through a hard time.

By tracking your moods and activities you’ll soon be amazed at how your habits will change. You’ll find new ways to feel good and look after yourself.

Check out my mood tracking journal which is available on Amazon.

Today I Choose Joy: Mood Tracker

• 12 weeks of daily mood tracking and journaling – record your mood and activities in the morning, afternoon, and evening
• Daily inspirational quotes – to offer support and motivation
• Weekly self-reflection prompts – what made you feel good, what made you feel bad, activities you plan to do more of the following week, and what you plan to avoid

Learn More!

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Did one of these quotes about Strength in Hard Times help you feel better?

Share your favourite quotes that inspire you when life gets you down…

P.S. I’m someone who deals with depression and anxiety.

I feel I can share this as I know SO many of you out there are also experiencing or have experienced prolonged moments of feeling low, which can lead to depression and/or anxiety.

In many cases they go hand in hand like a couple of friends – of course, these are the friends you DO NOT want in your life.

I am happy to say that I know this is something I have to deal with and therefore I can do everything in my power to conquer depression head-on.

This can be through a mindful self-care routine, living in the present, or always finding my happy place.

Even for those who don’t experience depression, we can all have low days from time to time, where we let our negative thoughts overtake positive thinking.

The days where everything seems hard, where everything seems like more of an effort than it should.

Having the strength to move through days like this can be tough and tiresome.

NOTE: If you are having hard days all the time and feel consistently low you could be dealing with depression.

If this is the case, please seek help from your family doctor. Also, therapy and potential medication go a long way to helping you get back on your feet again. So, NEVER be ashamed to reach out for professional help.

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