30 Best Sad Quotes - Quotes About Sadness and Pain

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Have you ever had one of those days where nothing seems to go your way? Despite all the goodness in your life, in the thick of your blues, it feels as though there's nothing that can turn your mood around.

While we're taught to learn how to cope with breakups, grief, work stress and difficult decisions, sometimes we just need a shoulder to cry on when our heart is hurting.

In fact, being vulnerable about your own sadness can open the door to larger conversations about emotions. “Being sad is a beautiful part of being human. I tell my kids all the time: We’re strongest in the places that we’re broken,” Brené Brown previously told TODAY.

Although it can be difficult to share your struggles with others, it's important to let others in. Plus, if you're brave enough to open up about whatever's bringing you down, someone else may feel the courage to do the same — and perhaps, offer helpful advice based on their past experiences.

Whether you choose to tell others or keep your pain close to your heart, turn to these sad quotes for some relief. Take a deep breath, grab some tissues and let these wise words be a much-needed reminder that pain is universal — but temporary. And if you want to lean into your feelings, press play on a sad movie to really let it all out.

  • "The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain." — Kahlil Gibran

  • "Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh." — Henry David Thoreau

  • "What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind up in parentheses." — John Irving, "The Cider House Rules"

  • "Loneliness is a sign you are in desperate need of yourself." — Rupi Kaur, "milk and honey"

  • "Words are tears that have been written down. Tears are words that need to be shed. Without them, joy loses all its brilliance and sadness has no end." — Paulo Coelho

  • "There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but iI have a feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well. So I take the memories as they come, accepting them all, letting them guide me whenever I can." — Nicholas Sparks, "Dear John"

  • "When you’re happy, you enjoy the music but when you’re sad, you understand the lyrics." — Frank Ocean

  • "For all sad words of tongue and pen, The saddest are these, 'It might have been.'" — John Greenleaf Whittier

  • "It’s sad, something coming to an end. It cracks you open, in a way — cracks you open to feeling. When you try to avoid the pain, it creates greater pain." — Jennifer Aniston

  • "Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water." — Christopher Morley

  • "It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our 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, "The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember"

  • "A wound that goes unacknowledged and unwept is a wound that cannot heal." — John Eldredge

  • "Crying is cleansing. There’s a reason for tears, happiness or sadness." — Dionne Warwick

  • "Those who do not weep, do not see." — Victor Hugo, "Les Miserables"

  • "It’s so devastating to come to terms with speaking of someone in past tense when you used to see them as your present and your future." — Taylor Swift

  • "Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.” — José N. Harris, "MI VIDA: A Story of Faith, Hope and Love"

  • "We all yearn for what we have lost. But sometimes, we forget what we have." — Mitch Albom, "The Timekeeper"

  • "I saw the world in black and white instead of the vibrant colors and shades I knew existed." Katie McGarry, "Pushing the Limits"

  • "Any fool can be happy. It takes a man with real heart to make beauty out of the stuff that makes us weep." — Clive Barker, "Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of Winter"

  • "Songs are as sad as the listener." — Jonathan Safran Foer, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

  • "Sorrow looks back. Worry looks around. Faith looks up." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • "There’s a sorrow and pain in everyone’s life, but every now and then there’s a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed." — Hubert Selby Jr., "Requiem for a Dream"

  • "I suppose a fire that burns that bright is not meant to last." — Veronica Roth, "Allegiant"

  • "It's the heart, afraid of breaking / That never learns to dance." — Bette Midler, "The Rose"

  • "Chase away sorrow by living." — Melissa Marr, "Darkest Mercy"

  • "When she is happy, she can’t stop talking, when she is sad, she doesn’t say a word." — Ann Brashares, "Girl in Pants: The Third Summer of Sisterhood"

  • "And thus the heart will break, yet brokenly live on." — Lord Byron

  • "Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable." — L. Frank Baum, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"

  • "When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope." — Elizabeth Gilbert, "Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia"

  • "My world is a million shattered pieces put together, glued by my tears, where each piece is nothing but a reflection of you." — Sanhita Baruah

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