Pain and suffering are an inescapable part of life, but quotes about pain can help you remember that while it can feel overwhelming at times, you are not alone. Whether it is physical, emotional, or mental, the most insightful pain quotes help you cope with suffering and find strength to keep going.
From motivational mantras and wise words to words of encouragement, you can expect to find practical guidance to help you transform your perspective on pain and move from feeling overwhelmed to embracing the potential of pain for personal growth and transformation.
These deep quotes will inspire growth, courage and resilience in the face of pain. You can find strength and hope in these meaningful pain quotes to deal with life’s hardships.
Best Pain Quotes
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. Aeschylus
Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Buddhist Proverb
Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain. Joseph Campbell
Time is not a cure for chronic pain, but it can be crucial for improvement. It takes time to change, to recover and to make progress. Dr. Mel Pohl
It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience. Julius Caesar
Sometimes I think I shouldn’t feel the way I do. When I start thinking this way I tell myself that feelings are neither good nor bad they simply are. In the midst of intense negative feelings, whether fear, anger, depression, etc., it can feel as though they will last forever, like they will never end. It promotes emotional balance to maintain an awareness that all feelings are temporary and that they always change.
Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave. Mary Tyler Moore
Sometimes things fall apart so that better things can fall together. Marilyn Monroe
We must all suffer one of two things the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. Jim Rohn
Acceptance 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. Fox
Loneliness expresses the pain of being alone and solitude expresses the glory of being alone. Paul Tillich
I don’t believe in pain management anymore, I believe in trying to cure persistent pain. Dr. Moskowitz
Our heavenly Father understands our disappointment, suffering, pain, fear, and doubt. He is always there to encourage our hearts and help us understand that He’s sufficient for all of our needs. When I accepted this as an absolute truth in my life, I found that my worrying stopped. Charles Stanley
When pain brings you down, don’t be silly, don’t close your eyes and cry, you just might be in the best position to see the sunshine. Alanis Morissette
It has been said that time heals all wounds. I don’t agree. The wounds remain. Time the mind, protecting its sanity covers them with some scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone. Rose Kennedy
The longer you have pain, the better your spinal cord gets at producing danger messages to the brain, even if there is no danger in the tissue. Dr. Lorimer Moseley
Going for a really long run, a bike ride, or cross country skiing helps me get away from all the noise. I tell myself, The pain you’re feeling, just enjoy it because it’s going to help you across that finish line first. If you’re having a crap day, go for a run. It makes a big difference. Lewis Hamilton
There is a point to changes like these. I have to move on to other things, to other conceptions of myself. I play golf. I still work. And I can be pretty happy just walking the land. Morgan Freeman
People fear death even more than pain. It’s strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah, I guess it is a friend. Jim Morrison
Healing severe or chronic pain, I believe, includes transforming our relationship to the pain and ultimately, it is about transforming our relationship to who we are and to life. Sarah Anne Shockley
Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life’s search for love and wisdom. Rumi
I thought I was going to die but I’ve gone from where I can’t function, where I just can’t live like this to I’ve got a bad headache. George Clooney
Chronic pain is not all about the body and it’s not all about the brain it’s everything. Target everything. Take back your life. Sean Mackey
History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again. Maya Angelou
Pain is always accompanied by emotion and meaning so that each pain is unique to the individual. The word pain is used to group together a class of combined sensory emotional events. The class contains many different types of pain, each of which is a personal, unique experience for the person who suffers. Patrick Wall
In moments of pain, we seek revenge. Ami Ayalon
There is an element and a very strong piece of me that believes pain is a microphone. My pain does me no good unless I transform it into something that is good. I hope that people watching it that do struggle with chronic pain know that they are not alone. I want people that watch it that think there’s no way I live that way because they see me dance and sing, to know I struggle with things like them and that I work through it and that it can be done. Lady Gaga
Achievement of your happiness is the only moral purpose of your life, and that happiness, not pain or mindless self indulgence, is the proof of your moral integrity, since it is the proof and the result of your loyalty to the achievement of your values. Ayn Rand
Don’t fight your pain; you can’t win. The paradox of recovery is that you have to surrender to win. Accepting what you cannot change makes the difference.
To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It’s not about winning and losing; it’s about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It’s about embracing the pain that you’ll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge. Summer Sanders
The body does not give up on us, so we can’t give up on it. My goal is always to work with my body, not against it so that it can function efficiently. I also try to remember that there have been pain free days which means that this difficult time will be over and give way to a better time. That’s where gratitude is so important. Writing gratitude lists to remember all the wonderful things I’ve experienced has also been really helpful for me. Paula Abdul
There’s beauty in pain, and everyone experiences it and it’s a lesson. Wynter Gordon
And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about. Haruki Murakami
I’m not looking for sympathy or anyone to care about it. This is my life and I’ve moved forward. It doesn’t stop me from being anywhere I want to be. Frankie Muniz
They who go Feel not the pain of parting; it is they Who stay behind that suffer. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Since chronic pain frequently cannot be seen or measured, unlike acute pain, doctors, colleagues, friends or family may question or doubt your pain. In effect, it doesn’t matter if anyone believes you, but it is extremely important for you to acknowledge that all pain is real. From Pain
Life comes with pain. Rod Wave
It’s not about getting over things, it’s about making room for them. It’s about painting the picture with contrast. Brianna Wiest
When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. Henri Nouwen
It’s been a long recovery. You can’t mourn for how you used to feel. You have to come to terms with it. George Clooney
Satisfaction consists in freedom from pain, which is the positive element of life. Arthur Schopenhauer
Our strength grows out of our weaknesses. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Punk is musical freedom. It’s saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster’s terms, nirvana means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock. Kurt Cobain
I will always have pain. But I exercise as much as I can, and I find that makes a huge difference. And if my body does seize up, I have a pain plan in place. I go back to my doctor. Jennifer Grey
Grace is what matters in anything especially life, especially growth, tragedy, pain, love, death. That’s a quality that I admire very greatly. It keeps you from reaching out for the gun too quickly. It keeps you from destroying things too foolishly. It sort of keeps you alive. Jeff Buckley
Laughter truly is medicine. Though this won’t fix everything, finding ways to smile and laugh more will change your body’s chemistry in many positive ways. This is not just a distraction It is an effective way to find some respite from your pain. It’s okay to have fun when you’re in pain. Smiling and laughing may be difficult, but it’s both okay and possible. Keep trying! Dr. Neil Pearson
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. Winston Churchill
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. Arnold Schwarzenegger
How much pain they have cost us, the evils which have never happened. Thomas Jefferson
I’ve had it for so many years that rebellion of not taking care of myself can’t exist anymore. Gina Rodriguez
The game of basketball has been everything to me. My place of refuge, place I’ve always gone where I needed comfort and peace. It’s been the site of intense pain and the most intense feelings of joy and satisfaction. It’s a relationship that has evolved over time, given me the greatest respect and love for the game. Michael Jordan
For those who are chronically ill and in chronic pain Have you had the experience of doctors not listening to you? If so, how do you not tear their heads off with your bare hands? Sarah Hyland
So when it came to role models, I looked at presidents’ wives. Of course, you’re talking about a farm girl who stood in the fields, dreaming, years ago, wishing she was that kind of person. But if I had been that kind of person, do you think I could sing with the emotions I do? You sing with those emotions because you’ve had pain in your heart. Tina Turner
I have lost the ability to read, write or even watch TV, because I can’t process information or any stimulation for that matter. It feels like someone came in and confiscated my brain and tied my hands behind my back to just watch and see life go by without me participating in it. Yolanda Hadid
Life is pain and the enjoyment of love is an anesthetic. Cesare Pavese
You are not defeated when you lose. You are defeated when you quit. Paulo Coelho
One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is love. Sophocles
Endometriosis is not life threatening. I know I’m lucky in the grand health scheme, but I also know that I am one of many women who grasp for a sense of consistent well being, fight against the betrayals of their bodies and who are often met with skepticism by doctors trained to view painful periods as a lot of women who should learn to grin and bear it. Lena Dunham
You just do it. You force yourself to get up. You force yourself to put one foot before the other, and God damn it; you refuse to let it get to you. You fight. You cry. You curse. Then you go about your business of living. That’s how I have done it. There’s no other way. Elizabeth Taylor
I pay my own bills. I feel my own pain. Romario
It starts with brain fog; for a while I couldn’t put sentences together. I’m really tired a lot. A few weeks ago I had a big campaign shoot that I had to reschedule. It’s hard, but I push through, because at the end of the day, if you’re not working, somebody else is. Bella Hadid
One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. Bob Marley
The fatigue is hard to explain unless you have it. Some mornings I feel really sick, like when you don’t get a lot of sleep or you have the flu or cold. I always have some level of tiredness. And the more I tried to push through it, the tougher it got. Venus Williams
Today I choose life. Every morning when I wake up I can choose joy, happiness, negativity, pain. To feel the freedom that comes from being able to continue to make mistakes and choices today I choose to feel life, not to deny my humanity but embrace it. Kevyn Aucoin
The journey of recovery from chronic disease is a long and winding road of small victories. Yolanda Hadid
The only antidote to mental suffering is physical pain. Karl Marx
Maybe I wasn’t necessarily really good at knowing what that meant so it actually got to a point where it was life or death. Selena Gomez
There is no coming to consciousness without pain. Carl Jung
When I was diagnosed, my doctor said, I don’t want you to think you can’t do anything that you don’t want to do in this life. MS is part of me, but it’s not who I am. Jamie Lynn Sigler
Tough times never last, but tough people do. Robert H. Schuller
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever. Lance Armstrong
It’s about taking it seriously first and foremost and getting real and being diligent about what you need to do to manage the disease. It takes time and it takes a plan but once you have a plan in order it’s about making healthier choices, getting active, and staying diligent on the program your doctors put you on. Anthony Anderson
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Khalil Gibran
Even to this day, I don’t subscribe like, Lupus doesn’t have me. Some doctor said this. But I’m going to do everything I can do to maintain my physical, mental and spiritual health. Nick Cannon
Pain is weakness leaving the body. Chesty Puller
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. Ernest Hemingway
The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain. Aristotle
I’ve always thought that if you work really hard at something, you can get it. But I was faced with the reality that this just wasn’t happening. Especially given my celiac disease, my body tends to shut down when I’m under stress, like when I’m training for a marathon or when I was starving in Australia. So I decided to be kinder to my body. Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Sarcasm helps me overcome the harshness of the reality we live, eases the pain of scars and makes people smile. Mahmoud Darwish
Diabetes is a disease I was diagnosed with when I was 13. It was a moment in my life when I was just getting ready to start making music with my brothers and touring and it was something I thought would slow me down before I even got started. Nick Jonas
If you aren’t in the moment, you are either looking forward to uncertainty, or back to pain and regret. Jim Carrey
I’m not a Vitiligo Sufferer. I’m not a Vitiligo model. I am Winnie. I am a model. And I happen to have Vitiligo. Stop putting these titles on me or anyone else. I am not suffering! If anything I’m succeeding at showing people that their differences don’t make them who they are! Winnie Harlow
We cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain. Alan Watts
The marks humans leave are too often scars. John Green
Bad 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 Anderson
It’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 Palahniuk
The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That’s what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they’ll go through the pain no matter what happens. Arnold Schwarzenegger
Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it. J.K. Rowling
We look before and after, And pine for what is not; Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Percy Bysshe Shelley
I think you still love me, but we can’t escape the fact that I’m not enough for you. I knew this was going to happen. So I’m not blaming you for falling in love with another woman. I’m not angry, either. I should be, but I’m not. I just feel pain. A lot of pain. I thought I could imagine how much this would hurt, but I was wrong. Haruki Murakami
You 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 Baldwin
To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment. Eckhart Tolle
Turn your wounds into wisdom. Oprah Winfrey
Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life. Angelina Jolie
People are afraid of themselves, of their own reality; their feelings most of all. People talk about how great love is, but that’s bullshit. Love hurts. Feelings are disturbing. People are taught that pain is evil and dangerous. How can they deal with love if they’re afraid to feel? Pain 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. Pain 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 Morrison
Life is not always easy to live, but the opportunity to do so is a blessing beyond comprehension. In the process of living, we will face struggles, many of which will cause us to suffer and to experience pain. L. Lionel Kendrick
Life is pain, highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something. William Goldman
I 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 Baldwin
The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared. Lois Lowry
Most people want to avoid pain, and discipline is usually painful. John C. Maxwell
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. If he has to make a choice, may he make it now. Then I will either wait for him or forget him. Paulo Coelho
The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too. Ernest Hemingway
There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt. Erma Bombeck
There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds. Laurell K. Hamilton
Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them. Hypatia
Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word. George R.R. Martin
There’s no comfort in the truth, pain is all you’ll find. George Michael
Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever. Lance Armstrong Sally Jenkins
The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain. Lord Byron
Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty four hours a day. Markus Zusak
The greatest evil is physical pain. Saint Augustine
I 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 Poe
To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it! Charlie Chaplin
One thing you can’t hide is when you’re crippled inside. John Lennon
I am God’s vessel. But my greatest pain in life is that I will never be able to see myself perform live. Kanye West
Behind every beautiful thing, there’s some kind of pain. Bob Dylan
If my art has nothing to do with people’s pain and sorrow, what is art for? Ai Weiwei
You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it. J.K. Rowling
It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful. It has the beauty of loneliness of pain: of strength and freedom. The beauty of disappointment and never satisfied love. The cruel beauty of nature and everlasting beauty of monotony. Benjamin Britten
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
It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death. Epictetus
Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul? John Keats
The climb might be tough and challenging,but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can’t always see it right away. Victoria Arlen
If 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 Aurelius
When you lose a parent, you realize how vital they are to the foundation of your life. It’s impossible to understand what it means until that curtain is pulled. You’re an orphan. But then I think that life is kind of remarkable, and the thing that causes the biggest pain can also bring amazing energy. Neneh Cherry
Pain is a pesky part of being human, I’ve learned it feels like a stab wound to the heart, something I wish we could all do without, in our lives here. Pain 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. Pain feels like a fast stab wound to the heart. But then healing feels like the wind against your face when you are spreading your wings and flying through the air! We may not have wings growing out of our backs, but healing is the closest thing that will give us that wind against our faces. C. JoyBell C.
Pain makes man think. Thought makes man wise. Wisdom makes life endurable. John Patrick
Another secret of the universe: Sometimes pain was like a storm that came out of nowhere. The clearest summer could end in a downpour. Could end in lightning and thunder. Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again. Charles Dickens
Face your life, its pain, its pleasure, leave no path untaken. Neil Gaiman
There are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions. To the people I have hurt, I am truly sorry. Matt Lauer
Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us. David Richo
We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and justify our existence on pain of liquidation. George Bernard Shaw
If 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
It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure. Marquis de Sade
The 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 Picoult
In order to have great happiness you have to have great pain and unhappiness otherwise how would you know when you’re happy? Leslie Caron
I feel that most of our pain from the loss of a loved one is things we never said or expressed. Jay Shetty
Since 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 Roth
Pain and death are part of life. To reject them is to reject life itself. Havelock Ellis
Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn’t change the heart of others it only changes yours. Shannon Alder
I’ve been in pain for so long now I’m just used to it. Ronnie Coleman
Don’t be scared. Women can handle the worst kind of pain. You’ll find out one day. Gayle Forman
Betrayal can be extremely painful, but it’s up to you how much that pain damages you permanently. Emily V. Gordon