No matter your background, no matter your means, life finds a way to take us by surprise. We take the highs as they come, but it’s the lows that always snag us. Whether it’s getting laid off or getting through a rough break up, moving forward past the pain and onto the next thing is essential to getting better. At times, whatever is ailing you can seem bleak or endless, but everyone has been there and it will pass.
Of course, everybody knows moving forward is the key, but when we’re suffering basic self care can be difficult let alone meaningful action. We’ve compiled a list of over 50 quotes to inspire and motivate you to move on in life no matter what’s ailing you. It’s not always easy. Consider these quotes a little bit of friendly help.
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.
–Robert Frost
The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.
–Steve Maraboli
Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.
–Lyndon B. Johnson
Mistakes are acceptable if they’re the result of moving forward.
–Andrew Yang
You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
–Bob Marley
It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.
–Paulo Coelho, The Zahir
Kiss away the past as you head towards the future.
–Imania Margria
Looking back isn’t going to help you. Moving forward is the thing you have to do.
–McKayla Maroney
Life is about how much you can take and keep fighting, how much you can suffer and keep moving forward.
–Anderson Silva
Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.
–Denis Waitley
My attitude has always been, if you fall flat on your face, at least you’re moving forward. All you have to do is get back up and try again.
–Richard Branson
As much horror as we have always created, we are a species that keeps moving forward, seeing new sights in new ways, and enjoying the journey.
–Martha Beck
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.
–Dr. Seuss
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
You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.
–C. JoyBell C.
If you’ve fallen down, today is the day you can get back up and try again.
–Amelie Chance
The past always looks better than it was because it isn’t here.
–Finley Peter Dunne
Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.
–Les Brown
Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.
–Bruce Lee
You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.
–Mary Pickford
Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how.
–James Russell Lowell
Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.
–Hermann Hesse
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.
–Ernest Hemingway
One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.
–Brigitte Nicole
You can love them, forgive them, want good things for them…but still move on without them.
–Mandy Hale
Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.
–Rumi
Life moves on and so should we.
–Spencer Johnson
Change has to come for life to struggle forward.
–Helen Hollick
When we think we have been hurt by someone in the past, we build up defenses to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future. So the fearful past causes a fearful future and the past and future become one. We cannot love when we feel fear…. When we release the fearful past and forgive everyone, we will experience total love and oneness with all.
–Gerald G. Jampolsky
When the world is at your back, and your heart is at your feet the best way to go on is to just ‘be.’
–Jennifer Varnadore
I fear that my mind would starve and that I might find myself in danger if I had no visual information, that it’s chiefly the light, the shapes, the spaces, the colors that I see that compel me to keep moving forward in life and that keep me safe.
–Rosemary Mahoney
We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
–Joseph Campbell
I never wanted to go back and relive the glory days; I just want to keep moving forward. That’s what I took from punk. Keep going. Don’t look back.
–Paul Simonon
Your hope lies in accepting your life as it now lies before you, forever changed. If you can do that, the peace you seek will follow.
–Jennifer Niven
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.
–Charles Darwin
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.
–Seneca
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
Forget the past—the future will give you plenty to worry about.
–George Allen, Sr.
You have to learn to get up from the table when love is no longer being served.
–Nina Simone
Closure happens right after you accept that letting go and moving on is more important than projecting a fantasy of how the relationship could have been.
–Sylvester McNutt
You loved him enough to let him leave…Now you need to love yourself enough to let him go.
–Ranata Suzuki
Life is like a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
–Albert Einstein
You’ve gotta know when it’s time to turn the page.
–Tori Amos
I find that the best way to do things is to constantly move forward and to never doubt anything and keep moving forward. If you make a mistake, say you made a mistake.
–John Frusciante
Dwelling on the past only blinds you to the future.
–Andrew Boyd
Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.
–Leo Buscaglia
We all have life storms, and when we get the rough times and we recover from them, we should celebrate that we got through it. No matter how bad it may seem, there’s always something beautiful that you can find.
–Mattie Stepanek
I can enjoy anywhere, and I can leave it. Life is about moving on.
–Waris Dirie
Part of growing up is just taking what you learn from that and moving on and not taking it to heart.
–Beverley Mitchell
If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment.
–Carlos Santana
Any time you end a relationship, and everyone has ended plenty in their life, it’s always a tough thing and hard to get over.
–Adam Brody
