While life is beautiful in so many ways, it is also filled with struggles and obstacles. We can’t truly appreciate happiness without experiencing some sort of pain.

Pain is inevitable. No matter how much we try to prevent bad things from happening, life will strike. Maybe you will have to face grief, betrayal or a broken heart. These experiences can tear you down in unspeakable ways. Some of them will cause so much pain that you’ll do anything that comes to mind to avoid it or feel a bit of joy, even if just for a few seconds.

Deep pain can lead to depression. Be sure to acknowledge your pain, and not avoid it. Process it and then find ways to let it go. Don’t wait for time to heal your wounds because the longer you allow your pain to stay with you, the more it will harm you. If you think you need help to overcome your suffering, don’t hesitate to ask for it!

Here are 210 pain quotes to help you acknowledge and overcome it:

Sad pain quotes

Sad Boy in Pain

As stated above, no one can run away from pain forever. At some point, we all experience it one way or another. We’ve put together the following list of sad pain quotes to let you know that you are not alone.

Behind every beautiful thing, there’s been some kind of pain.
BOB DYLANYou can’t run away from trouble. There ain’t no place that far.
UNCLE REMUSIt’s so hard to forget pain, but it’s even harder to remember sweetness. We have no scar to show for happiness. We learn so little from peace.
CHUCK PALAHNIUKI don’t believe there is pleasure in life. I believe there is only relief of pain… We have to suffer to be on top.
GEORGES ST-PIERRENothing prevents happiness like the memory of happiness.
ANDRE GIDEYou have to die a few times before you can really live.
CHARLES BUKOWSKIThe most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.
ERNEST HEMINGWAYThe prettiest smile hides the deepest secrets. The prettiest eyes have cried the most tears. And the kindest hearts have felt the most pain.
UNKNOWNI want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.
SYLVIA PLATH (more Sylvia Plath quotes)There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.
DANTE ALIGHIERII think that humans have a huge capacity to carry pain and sadness. There are things that haunt us our entire lives; we are unable to let them go. The good times seem almost effervescent and dreamlike in comparison with the times that didn’t go so well.
HENRY ROLLINSWhen you give someone your whole heart and he doesn’t want it, you cannot take it back. It’s gone forever.
SYLVIA PLATHGod whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.
C.S. LEWISLife is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
WILLIAM GOLDMANLife swings like a pendulum backward and forward between pain and boredom.
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUERAdventures are all very well in their place, but there’s a lot to be said for regular meals and freedom from pain.
NEIL GAIMANI imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
JAMES BALDWINLife didn’t promise to be wonderful.
TEDDY PENDERGRASSIt has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.
ROSE FITZGERALD KENNEDYWhen you compare the sorrows of real life to the pleasures of the imaginary one, you will never want to live again, only to dream forever.
ALEXANDRE DUMASWaiting hurts. Forgetting hurts. But not knowing which decision to take can sometimes be the most painful…
JOSÉ N. HARRISI have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.
SYLVIA PLATHPain is constant. You either suffer the pain of discipline, or the pain of regret.
YVAN BYEAJEEThe marks humans leave are too often scars.
JOHN GREENThe worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.
LOIS LOWRYWhy is there ever this perverse cruelty in humankind, that makes us hurt most those we love best?
JACQUELINE CAREYImagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.
MARKUS ZUSAKFor without pain, there can be no pleasure. Without sadness, there can be no happiness. Without misery there can be no beauty. And without these, life is endless, hopeless, doomed and damned.
Adult. You have become adult.
HARLAN ELLISONTears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.
JOSÉ N. HARRISMental 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. LEWISAlthough it’s just a small tear, it is the heaviest thing in the world. And it doesn’t do a damn thing to fix anything.
CHASE BROOKS

Pain quotes that will make you feel stronger

Whenever you experience pain know that it will not last forever. Be patient and learn from it. Remember that you are in charge and that you can help yourself to overcome your suffering faster. Below, we’ve gathered a list of pain quotes that will make you feel stronger. Read through them and start taking the next step toward your healing.

Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.
OVIDYou never know how strong you are until being strong is your only choice.
BOB MARLEYWhat hurts us is what heals us.
PAULO COELHOI can bear any pain as long as it has meaning.
HARUKI MURAKAMIOut of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
KAHLIL GIBRANMost of the gains in life come from suffering in the short term, so you can get paid in the long term.
NAVAL RAVIKANTPain makes me grow. Growing is what I want. Therefore, for me pain is pleasure.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGERLet me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.
RABINDRANATH TAGOREIt is when I struggle that I strengthen. It is when challenged to my core that I learn the depth of who I am.
STEVE MARABOLIThe real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
THOMAS PAINEOur wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.
DAVID RICHOAt the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.
FRIDA KAHLOWe do survive every moment, after all, except the last one.
JOHN UPDIKEIf you’re going through hell, keep going.
WINSTON CHURCHILLThe only thing that’s the end of the world is the end of the world.
BARACK OBAMAThe pain you feel today will be the strength you feel tomorrow.
UNKNOWNWhat matters most is how well you walk through the fire.
CHARLES BUKOWSKITrue discovery happens when you embrace the obstacle. Truth is for the patient, the enduring.
MAXIME LAGACÉDon’t be scared… Women can handle the worst kind of pain. You’ll find out one day.
GAYLE FORMANSince I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.
VERONICA ROTHThere are ships sailing to many ports, but not a single one goes where life is not painful.
FERNANDO PESSOADon’t let pain define you, let it refine you.
TIM FARGOPain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.
LANCE ARMSTRONG

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.
HARUKI MURAKAMI
If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible.
PAULO COELHOAfter the rain, the sun will reappear. There is life. After the pain, the joy will still be here.
WALT DISNEYPain is a sudden hurt that can’t be escaped. But then I have also learned that because of pain, I can feel the beauty, tenderness, and freedom of healing.
C. JOYBELL C.Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain.
ECKHART TOLLEDon’t get lost in your pain, know that one day your pain will become your cure.
RUMIPain is meant to wake us up. People try to hide their pain. But they’re wrong. Pain is something to carry, like a radio. You feel your strength in the experience of pain. It’s all in how you carry it. That’s what matters.
JIM MORRISONI think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.
FRIDA KAHLO

If you never heal from what hurt you, you’ll bleed on people who didn’t cut you.
UNKNOWN

To heal from mental pain requires physical pain. Everything requires effort, don’t give up.
BEN AFFLECK

Inspirational pain quotes

Sometimes a few words are enough to give us hope in dealing with our pain. Sometimes they are enough to help us re-evaluate our situation. In this regard, we’ve gathered for you a list of inspirational pain quotes. Enjoy!

Laugher is the tonic, the relief, the surcease for pain.
CHARLIE CHAPLINSit with the pain until it passes, and you will be calmer for the next one.
NAVAL RAVIKANTGreat things never came from comfort zones.
NEIL STRAUSSAlthough the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
HELEN KELLEREvery pain is a gift. Every pain is an opportunity.
MAXIME LAGACÉChange happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.
TONY ROBBINSWe can learn and change in a state of pain and suffering, or we can evolve in a state of joy and inspiration.
JOE DISPENZAWhen I planted my pain in the field of patience it bore fruit of happiness.
KAHLIL GIBRANPassion is the bridge that takes you from pain to change.
FRIDA KAHLONever to suffer would never to have been blessed.
EDGAR ALLAN POEYou may have had unfair things happen to you, but the depth of your pain is an indication of the height of your future.
JOEL OSTEENWhen it hurts – observe. Life is trying to teach you something.
ANITA KRIZZANToo many people believe that everything must be pleasurable in life, which makes them constantly search for distractions and short-circuits the learning process.
ROBERT GREENEMy pain may be the reason for somebody’s laugh. But my laugh must never be the reason for somebody’s pain.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN (more Charlie Chaplin quotes)Every negative situation contains the possibility for something positive, an opportunity. It is how you look at it that matters.
ROBERT GREENELife begins at the end of your comfort zone.
NEALE DONALD WALSCHTime doesn’t heal emotional pain, you need to learn how to let go.
ROY T. BENNETTThe more you reject the past, the more your suffering lasts.
MAXIME LAGACÉThe pain that you create now is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what is.
ECKHART TOLLEI tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling.
FRIDA KAHLOForget about winning and losing, forget about pride and pain.
BRUCE LEEStay focused on your purpose, not your pain.
RANAL CURRIEThe real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.
C.S. LEWISNobody can hurt me without my permission.
MAHATMA GANDHIIf there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.
THOMAS PAINEThere 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 LAMATake it from me: If you hear the past speaking to you, feel it tugging up your back and runing its fingers up your spine, the best thing to do-the only thing-is run.
LAUREN OLIVERIf you can learn to endure pain, you can survive anything. Some people learn to embrace it- to love it. Some endure it through drowning it in sorrow, or by making themselves forget. Others turn it into anger.
SARAH J. MAASProsperity is not without many fears and distastes, and adversity is not without comforts and hopes.
FRANCIS BACONIf I can see pain in your eyes then share with me your tears. If I can see joy in your eyes then share with me your smile.
SANTOSH KALWARThere is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt.
ERMA BOMBECKPain introduces you to your highest self.
PAUL DOMENICKAnd the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
ANAIS NIN (more Anais Nin quotes)God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them, but to cleanse them.
JOHN AUGHEYNeurosis is the natural by-product of pain avoidance.
CARL JUNGSome of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.
GARTH BROOKSThe pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.
CHARLES DICKENSPain is a feeling. Your feelings are a part of you. Your own reality. If you feel ashamed of them, and hide them, you’re letting society destroy your reality. You should stand up for your right to feel your pain.
JIM MORRISONWhere the wound has been given, there must the cure be found, if anywhere.
JANE AUSTENThe cure for pain is in the pain.
RUMI (more Rumi quotes)Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.
BO BENNETTBe soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place.
IAIN THOMASBad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have – life itself.
WALTER ANDERSONGrowth is painful. Change is painful. But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.
UNKNOWNProblems are the price you pay for progress.
BRANCH RICKEYSacrifice today for tomorrows betterment, you are willing to pay those payments with pain, because pain is just a message when you are fixing something that’s insufficient in your life.
GREG PLITT

Deep pain quotes

Sometimes the pain we feel is so excruciating that we would cling to anything for a few seconds of relief. If you believe that your pain is too much for you to handle, please don’t hesitate to ask for help from a friend or a professional.

Here’s our list of deep pain quotes that you’ll resonate with:

We don’t even ask happiness, just a little less pain.
CHARLES BUKOWSKIPeople go through so much pain trying to avoid pain.
NEIL STRAUSSSmile, though your heart is aching. Smile, even though it’s breaking. When there are clouds in the sky, you’ll get by if you smile through your pain and sorrow. Smile and maybe tomorrow, you’ll see the sun come shining through for you.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN‘You,’ he said, ‘are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world, and that, I believe, is why you are in so much pain.’
EMILIE AUTUMNOne thing you can’t hide – is when you’re crippled inside.
JOHN LENNONI just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong.
HARUKI MURAKAMIThere is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
MAYA ANGELOUIt is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.
JULIUS CAESARI must get my soul back from you; I am killing my flesh without it.
SYLVIA PLATHMy painting carries with it the message of pain.
FRIDA KAHLO (more Frida Kahlo quotes)There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.
LAURELL K. HAMILTONYou think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive.
JAMES BALDWINIf you love deeply, you’re going to get hurt badly. But it’s still worth it.
C.S. LEWISI remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind.
EDGAR ALLAN POEYou care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.
J.K. ROWLING (more J.K. Rowling quotes)In misery we seem aware of our own existence, even though it may be in the form of a monstrous egotism: this pain of mine is individual, this nerve that winces belongs to me and to no other.
GRAHAM GREENEThe silence depressed me. It wasn’t the silence of silence. It was my own silence.
SYLVIA PLATHUnrequited love does not die; it’s only beaten down to a secret place where it hides, curled and wounded. For some unfortunates, it turns bitter and mean, and those who come after pay the price for the hurt done by the one who came before.
ELLE NEWMARKIf you are silent about your pain, they’ll kill you and say you enjoyed it.
ZORA NEALE HURSTONOften it’s the deepest pain which empowers you to grow into your highest self.
UNKNOWNForgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim–letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.
C.R. STRAHANThe tragedy of life is in what dies inside a man while he lives – the death of genuine feeling, the death of inspired response, the awareness that makes it possible to feel the pain or the glory of other men in yourself.
NORMAN COUSINSI may never be happy, but tonight I am content.
SYLVIA PLATH

The hottest love has the coldest end.
SOCRATES

There’s no comfort in the truth, pain is all you’ll find.
GEORGE MICHEALMoral wounds have this peculiarity – they may be hidden, but they never close; always painful, always ready to bleed when touched, they remain fresh and open in the heart.
ALEXANDRE DUMASThe damage was permanent; there would always be scars. But even the angriest scars faded over time until it was difficult to see them written on the skin at all, and the only thing that remained was the memory of how painful it had been.
JODI PICOULTMemories are bullets. Some whiz by and only spook you. Others tear you open and leave you in pieces.
RICHARD KADREYI have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom.
EDGAR ALLAN POELife is painful and messed up. It gets complicated at the worst of times, and sometimes you have no idea where to go or what to do.
ALYSHA SPEERI could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts, in every part of my body.
VERONICA ROTHPainting completed my life. I lost three children and a series of other things that would have fulfilled my horrible life. My painting took the place of all of this. I think work is the best.
FRIDA KAHLOSome old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word.
GEORGE R.R. MARTINWhy the hell are we conditioned into the smooth strawberry-and-cream Mother-Goose-world, Alice-in-Wonderland fable, only to be broken on the wheel as we grow older and become aware of ourselves as individuals with a dull responsibility in life?
SYLVIA PLATHI became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
EDGAR ALLAN POEI still cannot understand how he could abandon me so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once. The pain is like an axe that chops my heart.wis
YANN MARTELThe worst type of crying wasn’t the kind everyone could see–the wailing on street corners, the tearing at clothes. No, the worst kind happened when your soul wept and no matter what you did, there was no way to comfort it.
KATIE MCGARRYCompassion hurts. When you feel connected to everything, you also feel responsible for everything. And you cannot turn away.
ANDREW BOYD

Short pain quotes

Sadness and pain are part of everyone’s life. We hope that some of the short pain quotes listed below will help you in dealing with your situation.

Here’s our list of short pain quotes that make perfect captions for your Instagram posts:

Life is pain, so live it up while you can.
ERNEST HEMINGWAYPain is a fact. Suffering is a choice.
NAVAL RAVIKANTWithout pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
FIGHT CLUBPain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
BUDDHALet go of the past.
ROBERT GREENEAdversity is the first path to truth.
LORD BYRONNew beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.
LAO TZUI’ve learned more from pain than I could’ve ever learned from pleasure.
UNKNOWNFailure gave me strength. Pain was my motivation.
MICHAEL JORDANThere are no gains without pains.
BENJAMIN FRANKLINThe root of all suffering is attachment.
BUDDHAOne good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.
BOB MARLEYThe art of life is the art of avoiding pain.
THOMAS JEFFERSONIt hurts because it matters.
JOHN GREENThat’s the thing about pain, it demands to be felt.
JOHN GREENWe can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to.
C.S. LEWISFace your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken.
NEIL GAIMANMove toward resistance and pain.
ROBERT GREENEMuch of your pain is self-chosen.
KAHLIL GIBRANI ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders.
JEWISH PROVERBThe pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That’s the deal.
C.S. LEWISEmbrace the feeling. Start the healing.
MAXIME LAGACÉPain is a great motivator.
NAVAL RAVIKANTIt’s better to feel pain than nothing at all.
UNKNOWNTwo barrels of tears will not heal a bruise.
CHINESE PROVERBStrange how we decorate pain.
MARGARET ATWOODFear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil.
ARISTOTLETo hurt is as human as to breathe.
J.K. ROWLINGLife is pain and the enjoyment of love is an anesthetic.
CESARE PAVESE

Wise pain quotes

If anything, pain is a teacher. If you learn to change your perspective and see pain from a different point of view, you will soon observe that it often teaches you valuable life lessons. Those lessons will help you cope better with whatever life throws at you in the future.

Here’s our list of wise pain quotes that everyone should read:

One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.
SOPHOCLESIt is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure.
MARQUIS DE SADETurn your wounds into wisdom.
OPRAH WINFREYIf you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.
MARCUS AURELIUSThe aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure but to avoid pain.
ARISTOTLEWe must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.
KENJI MIYAZAWAIt is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.
THEODORE ROOSEVELTRemember anything you want that’s valuable requires you to break through short-term pain in order to gain long-term pleasure.
TONY ROBBINSPain nourishes courage. You can’t be brave if you’ve only had wonderful things happen to you.
MARY TYLER MOOREThere is no education like adversity.
BENJAMIN DISRAELIWe must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.
JIM ROHNNothing pains some people more than having to think.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JRHe who makes a beast out of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
DR. SEUSSWisdom is nothing more than healed pain.
ROBERT GARY LEEIf experience is the mother of wisdom, pain is the father.
THIBAUTWe are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.
LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECATry to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.
C.S. LEWISSometimes you must hurt in order to know, fall in order to grow, lose in order to gain, because life’s greatest lessons are learnt through pain.
NAGATOHandling our suffering is an art. If we know how to suffer, we suffer much less, and we’re no longer afraid of being overwhelmed by the suffering inside.
THICH NHAT HANHAcceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.
MICHAEL J. FOXTrying to build a life where you never experience bad feelings is like building a ship that can’t handle a storm.
NEIL STRAUSSPain can change you, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a bad change. Take that pain and turn it into wisdom.
UNKNOWNThere is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
CARL JUNGWe cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.
ALAN WATTSPain, pleasure and death are no more than a process for existence. The revolutionary struggle in this process is a doorway open to intelligence.
FRIDA KAHLODo you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?
JOHN KEATSBut who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.
MARGARET ATWOODIf you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you’re allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.
SHANNON L. ALDER