Depression is a common and serious medical illness. Even though a serious illness there are many quotes about depression. Don’t let these depression quotes fool you.

This illness negatively affects how you feel. It also affects the way you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness. In many cases it may cause a loss of interest in things you once enjoyed.

Depression can lead to emotional and physical problems. It can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and at home. Depression, fortunately, is treatable.

Here are a few quotes about depression. See if any of them could apply to you, whether you are depressed or not.

A Few Dozen Depression Quotes in Words and Images

“Grief denied will surface in borrowed clothes, the mad, sad clothes of paranoia, fear or loneliness.”

― Johnny Rich, The Human Script

“Depression means self-loathing, self-disgust, and the kind of emotional numbness that feels like psychic death.”

“I was so scared to give up depression, fearing that somehow the worst part of me was actually all of me.” — Elizabeth Wurtzel

― William Deresiewicz, Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

“It’s hard to answer the question “what’s wrong?” when nothing is right.”

― Anonymous

“Depression is very real. It’ll back you into a dark room, slap you across the face, spit in your eyes, scream in your ears, and punch you in the gut – Until you give in.”

― Anonymous

“Sometimes I just think depression’s one way of coping with the world. Like, some people get drunk, some people do drugs, some people get depressed. Because there’s so much stuff out there that you have to do something to deal with it.”

―Ned Vizzini

“Our Generation has had no Great war, no Great Depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.” — Chuck Palahniuk

“The only thing more exhausting than being depressed is pretending that you’re not.”

―Anonymous

 “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

 “That sun, that light had faded, and she had faded with them. Now she was as grey as the season itself.”

― Anita Brookner, Hotel du Lac

“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

“Melancholy held me hostage, and the bees built a hive of sadness in my soul.”

― Laurie Halse Anderson, Chains

“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 like a war―you either win or die trying.”

― Anonymous

The scientific evidence is clear that exercise significantly reduces depression and anxiety. — Johann Hari

“People with depression have something very valuable to teach us―how to live when it doesn’t ever feel good.”

― Kay Warren

“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.”

― Laurell K. Hamilton

“With depression, one of the most important things you could realize is that you’re not alone.” — Dwayne Johnson

“It’s like being in a glass elevator in the middle of a crowded mall; you see everything and would love to join in, but the door won’t open so you can’t.”

―Lisa Moore Sherman

“Depression is living in a body that fights to survive, with a mind that tries to die.”

―Unknown

“Having depression is being in an abusive relationship with yourself.”

―Emily Dotterer

 “Telling a depressed person to be happy is the same as telling a cancer patient to cure themselves.”

―Dissentient

“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.” — Sigmund Freud

“I preferred to look at the sea, which said nothing and never made you feel alone.”

― Paula McLain, The Paris Wife

 “It’s a bit like walking down a long, dark corridor never knowing when the light will go on.”

―Neil Lennon

Most symptoms of depression and anxiety are due to: GMO food, no exercise, sitting all day, disconnect with nature, gossiping, no ambition, lack of sunlight, toxic relationships, victimhood mentality, pleasure seeking. There’s no medication to cure this. ― Ralph Napolitano

 “Rainy, gloomy, drab, sunless day.  There are times when hope seems entirely clouded over, when looking for the blessings in your circumstances feels like trying to catch a ray of sunshine from six feet under.”

― Richelle E. Goodrich, Smile Anyway

“Everything takes me longer than I expect. It’s a sad truth about life.”

― Donna Tartt

“One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.”

― Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics

“It’s disappointing to feel sad for no reason. Sadness can be almost pleasantly indulgent when you have a way to justify it.”

― Allie Brosh

Depression is a gift. The only inconvenient is that you need to wait a few weeks, and sometimes a few years, to appreciate it. Be patient. ― Maxime Lagacé

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.”

― Norman Cousins

“The sadness of the world has different ways of getting to people, but it seems to succeed almost every time.”

― Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night

“Depression is like falling so deep down the rabbit hole you forget what the sky looks like.”

― Robin Brodsky Curtin

“Depression and anxiety are a symptom of too much consumption and too little creation. You were put on this earth to create.” ― Bill Masur

“Sad hurts but it’s a healthy feeling. It is a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.”

― J.K. Rowling

“If you are chronically down, it is a lifelong fight to keep from sinking.”

― Elizabeth Wurtzel

“Sleep just isn’t sleep anymore, it’s an escape.”

― Unknown

Everyone needs a project. Something they’re building, a skill that raises their value, a mission that improves the world, even if only minutely. A lot of this modern anxiety, depression, and substance abuse could be remedied this way. ― Ed Latimore

“Why, when you have a mental disease, is it always considered an act of imagination? Why is it that every organ in your body can get sick and you get sympathy except the brain?”

― Ruby Wax

“You really didn’t see the sadness or the longing unless you already knew it was there. But that was the trick, wasn’t it? Everyone had their disappointment and their baggage; only, some people carried it in their inside pockets and not on their backs.”

― Maggie Stiefvater, The Dream Thieves

It’s horrifying that many mental health services turn away people with addiction problems, telling them to “sort out their addiction first” – as if addiction isn’t fuelled by problems like depression or psychosis. ― Johann Hari

“The way sadness works is one of the strange riddles of the world. If you are stricken with great sadness, you may feel as if you have been set aflame, not only because of the enormous pain but also because your sadness may spread over your life, like smoke from an enormous fire.”

― Lemony Snicket

 “Every human walks around with a certain kind of sadness. They may not wear it on their sleeves, but it’s there if you look deep.”

― Taraji P. Henson

 “It’s weird for people who still have feelings to be around depressed people. They try to help you have feelings again so things can go back to normal, and it’s frustrating for them when that doesn’t happen.”

― Allie Brosh

The scrutiny that young people face on social media can lead to anxiety, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. ― Lady Gaga

“It feels like everyone else is moving on with their lives while I am stuck here in this hold that I can’t climb out of.”

― Unknown

 “People try to say suicide is the most cowardly act a man could ever commit. I don’t think that’s true at all. What’s cowardly is treating a man so badly that he wants to commit suicide.”

― Tommy Tran

“Anyone who has actually been that sad can tell you that there’s nothing beautiful or literary or mysterious about depression.”

― Jasmine Warga, My Heart and Other Black Holes

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

Why are depression and anxiety on the rise? Because modern society is designed to make you anxious and depressed. Garbage food, sedentary lifestyle, cubicle work, social media, toxic politics, hookup culture, loss of religion, decline of family, drugs, consumerism. ― Zuby

“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

“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

Meditation is the only answer to all the questions of man. It may be frustration, it may be depression, it may be sadness, it may be meaninglessness, it may be anguish: The problems may be many but the answer is one. Meditation is the answer. ― Osho

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

― Unknown

“I am living in a nightmare, from which from time to time I wake in sleep.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin

“The worst part of having a mental illness is people expect you to behave as if you don’t.”

―Arthur Fleck (a.k.a Joker)

The opposite of play is not work – the opposite of play is depression. ― Stuart Brown
 

 

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