Insightful Quotes on Anxiety and Fear

These anxiety quotes not only provide inspiration, but they give you a look into what it's like living with anxiety and panic. After reading the anxiety quotes and quotes about fear, feel free to share them on your website, blog or social page for your own private viewing or to help others.

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"Living with anxiety is like being followed by a voice. It knows all your insecurities and uses them against you. It gets to the point when it's the loudest voice in the room. The only one you can hear."

Anxiety disorders certainly cause you to feel as if there's a fearsome voice following you around. There are ways to cope with anxiety and silence that voice -- or at least make it quieter.

"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby."

In some ways, phobias are shadows. But there are ways to treat phobias so the light will follow the shadow.

"Slow breathing is like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won't make the storm goes away, but it will hold you steady until it passes."

It's true: you can take a breath for mental health. Diaphragmatic breathing is one way to feel better fast.

"I'm a lonely person at heart, I need people, but my social anxiety prevents me from being happy.

Social anxiety is no joke. However, social anxiety can be treated successfully (with some work on your part).

"Although anxiety is part of life, never let it control you."

There are natural treatments for anxiety that work best when you're actively using coping skills to get through.

"Don't let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after all, it is only in the darkest nights that stars shine more brightly."

Remember that anxiety can cause brain fog. This inability to make decisions can make your difficulties seem insurmountable. Give yourself grace; don't be too hard on yourself, just figure out how to treat the brain fog.

“Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.”

What causes anxiety? Challenges to our sense of control is definitely a major reason we suffer. This anxiety quote is correct: if you plan smartly then let go of the outcome, you'll rest easier at night.

"Don't believe the things you tell yourself late at night."

If anxiety keeps you up at night, you could try antianxiety medication to help you sleep. Good sleep hygiene is a great help too.

"I remember from my panicky days how I felt different and disconnected."

Panic disorder has several symptoms that tend to isolate you from other people. You think they don't understand. But anxiety is the most widespread mental illness in the United States, so chances are you will find someone who does understand what you're going through.

"I've spent most of my life and most of my friendships holding my breath and hoping that when people get close enough they won't leave, and fearing that it's a matter of time before they figure me out and go."

Anxiety can affect your relationships, and when that happens, anger, jealousy and paranoia are usually to blame.

"Anxiety is not being able to sleep because you said something wrong two years ago and can't stop thinking about it."

Anxiety and insecurity often go hand-in-hand. It's difficult to increase your self-esteem when everything makes you anxious.

"I am severely overwhelmed with everything. It's come to a point that even small tasks make me feel like breaking down and crying. Everything is just too much for me now."

Anxiety does overwhelm us at times. It's going to be okay. Use your coping skills and self-care to breathe, relax, and come out from under the weight of anxiety.

"Every day is a struggle even when I'm at my best. My anxiety is always with me and my panic taps me on my shoulder a few times a day. On my good days, I can brush it off. On my bad days, I just want to stay in bed."

Learn about morning anxiety. It can help you plan for the mornings you can't get out of bed, maybe making it possible for you to get on with your day.

"I literally have to remind myself all the time, that being afraid of things going wrong isn't the way to make things go right."

Being afraid of things going wrong, constantly, leads to anxiety attacks. It's a good idea to get a hold of your worry and stress.

"Worry is a down payment on a problem you may never have."

Worry is 'common anxiety' vs. an anxiety disorder. There is help for common anxiety, mostly through stress reduction.

"I feel like everybody secretly hates me."

No matter what kind of anxiety disorder you deal with, anxiety disorder treatments are effective. Don't be afraid to talk to your doctor.

"A panic attack goes from 0 to 100 in an instant. It's halfway between feeling like you'll faint and feeling like you'll die."

Panic attacks certainly can scare you, both because of the emotional and physical symptoms that panic attacks cause.

"I will breathe. Worry will not control me. Stress will not break me."

Believe it or not, breathing exercises for anxiety work. Try some breathing techniques the next time you're anxious.

"Anxiety isn't something that goes away; it's something you learn to control."

And you can learn to control anxiety in at least 17 ways (but there are several other ways too -- see our anxiety self-help section).

“I get nervous about everything. Sometimes I literally don't know why I'm anxious. I just am and no-one seems to understand that.”

If anxiety happens, you can't find a cause and it is interfering with your life, you could have generalized anxiety disorder. Use this anxiety test to open a conversation with your doctor.

More Anxiety Quotes

Quotes about anxiety can help you feel less alone, less fearful, and better able to take a step forward. We have many anxiety quotes so at least one of them will apply to you.

“Don't assume I'm weak because I have panic attacks. You'll never know the amount of strength it takes to face the world every day.”

“Today, I will not stress over things, I can't control.”

“My anxiety is silent. You wouldn't even notice a change on the outside but I'm honestly so stressed I can't even manage simple tasks. People call me lazy when, in reality, I'm just overwhelmed.”



“You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”

“It's sad, actually, because my anxiety keeps me from enjoying things as much as I should at this age.”

“Anxiety is terrible, you could be having an attack and no one would even know, because it's an inward thing. It feels like you're malfunctioning and you can't process your own thoughts. You get a knot in your stomach and you can't take a full breath, but outwardly you can literally just sit there and look completely normal, as long as no one tries to speak to you.”

“Social anxiety isn't a choice. I wish people knew how badly I wish I could be like everybody else, and how hard it is to be affected by something that can bring me to my knees every single day.”

"Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”

“When I say can’t take on even one more thing, I really need you to understand I really just can’t.”

“There’s just so much going on in my mind, sometimes I can’t keep up with what’s going on around me.”

“Anxiety makes you sit there and overthink every single thing. At times it makes you think people in your life are leaving you. You begin to feel abandoned, and not worth anything because the most important people in your life don’t want you.”

“The fact that many people don’t recognize or have the patience for your illness only makes everything worse.”

“The thing about an anxiety disorder is that you know it is stupid. You know with all your heart that it wasn’t a big deal and that it should roll off of you. But that is where the disorder kicks in. Suddenly the small things are very big and it keeps growing in your head, flooding your chest, and trying to escape from under your skin. You know with all of your heart that you’re being ridiculous and you hate every minute of it.”

“Even when things are wonderful. I’m always waiting for something horrible to happen.”

“Anxiety has nothing to do with courage or character. Nothing at all.”

“Anxiety is having to remind myself that being afraid of things going wrong isn’t the way to make things go right.”

“Even the simplest task can be overwhelming at times.”

“I realized today that I have stopped living life. I am literally just trying to get to the next day, just living in the thought of tomorrow. I am not living, I am waiting. And the trouble is, I don’t know what I am exactly waiting for. I am kind of scared for what it might be.”

“I say “sorry” a lot, mostly because I feel everything is my fault.”

“I am safe right now. This will fade away. I am not in danger. I am getting enough air. I am starting to relax. I feel calmer. I am going to be okay.”

“Anxiety is the most silently painful experience. It makes no sense and you sit alone and suffer for an unknown reason. You can’t explain it. You can’t stop it, It is horrible.”

“I’ve only just realized how utterly exhausted and drained I am after living in a near-constant state of fight or flight for so long.”

“I worry my depression and anxiety are always going to keep me from being the person I dreamed of becoming.”

“My anxiety is silent. You wouldn’t even notice a change on the outside, but I’m honestly so stressed I can’t even manage simple tasks. People call me lazy when in reality I’m just overwhelmed.”

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”

“When thinking about life, remember this: No amount of guilt can solve the past, and no amount of anxiety can change the future.”

“I’m terrified that even if I try my hardest, I still won’t be good enough.”

“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”

“You are strong for getting out of bed in the morning when it feels like hell. You are brave for doing things even though they scare you or make you anxious. And you are amazing for trying and holding on no matter how hard life gets.”

"You're not going to master the rest of your life in one day just relax. Master the day. Then just keep doing that every day."

"Note to self: I don't have to take this day all at once, but rather, one step, one breath, one moment at a time. I am only one person. Things will get done when they get done."

"Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action."

"It's sad, actually, because my anxiety keeps me from enjoying things as much as I should at this age.”

“Just because I can't explain the feelings causing my anxiety, doesn't make them less valid.”

“Anything you’re trying to will is focused on the future; it’s always associated with some sort of anxiety that makes the present moment somewhat uncomfortable.”

"Sometimes it's better to look at things than own them... owning means anxiety and a lot of bags to carry around."

"There is great beauty in going through life without anxiety or fear. Half our fears are baseless, and the other half discreditable."

"Let whatever you do today be enough."

"I over analyze situations because I'm scared of what will happen if I'm not prepared for it."



"Anxiety can feel as huge as the big, blue sea, but remember that the sea is made up of smaller waves."

"Most people don't realize the strength it takes to pull yourself out of an anxiety attack. So if you've ever done that, I'm proud of you."

"Telling me my greatest fears aren't real or going to happen doesn't help me."

"Telling someone with anxiety to just calm down is like telling someone with epilepsy to just stop having a seizure."

"No matter how irrational I may sound, it's real to me."

"Becoming fearless isn't the point. That's impossible. It's learning how to control your fear and how to be free from it."

"I will breathe I will think of a solution I will not let my worry control me. I will not let me stress break me. I will simply breathe and it will be okay because I don't quit."

"Anxiety is one little tree in your forest. Step back and look at the whole forest."

"Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained."

"My body thinks something is gravely wrong, but my brain doesn't have a clue what to do about it, so it starts racing to the worst possible conclusions."

"The worst feeling in the world is trying to hold back a panic attack in public."

"Just because I can't explain the feelings causing my anxiety, doesn't make them less valid."

"This is one of the most frustrating things about having an anxiety disorder; knowing as you're freaking out that there's no reason to be freaked out, but lacking the ability to shut the emotion down."

"Anxiety happens when you think you have to figure everything out."

"Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind."

"My body thinks something is gravely wrong, but my brain doesn't have a clue what to do about it, so it starts racing to the worst possible conclusions."

"Don't lose yourself in your fear."



"I will breathe. I will think of a solution. I will not let my worry control me. I will not let me stress break me. I will simply breathe. And it will be okay. Because I don't quit."

"Worry pretends to be necessary, but serves no useful purpose."



"I get nervous about everything, sometimes I literally don't"Worrying is like walking around with an umbrella waiting for it to rain."

"Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it."

"People think I'm weak. The fact is, they just don't know now how strong I am struggling every single day to stay alive."

"How do you run away from things that are in your head?"

"Worry does nothing but steal your joy and keep you very busy doing nothing."

"No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen."

"Worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum."

"Fear is inevitable, I have to accept that, but I cannot allow it to paralyze me."

"Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy."

"Your mind is your prison when you focus on your fear."

"Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness."

"Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go."

"Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency."

"Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose."

"Anxiety's like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you very far."

"There came a time in every prolonged effort when he had a moment of near panic, or 'terror in a lonely place', the original semantic content of the word. The lonely place was his own mind."

"PTSD is a whole-body tragedy, an integral human event of enormous proportions with massive repercussions."

"Some people´s lives seem to flow in a narrative; mine had many stops and starts. That´s what trauma does. It interrupts the plot. You can´t process it because it doesn´t fit with what came before or what comes afterwards."

"The humming of my parents' voices from behind my bedroom wall, which throughout my childhood had filled me with a sense of security, had now become a source of anxiety and panic."

"In an era of stress and anxiety, when the present seems unstable and the future unlikely, the natural response is to retreat and withdraw from reality, taking recourse either in fantasies of the future or in modified visions of a half-imagines past."

"A true friend knows your weaknesses but shows you your strengths; feels your fears but fortifies your faith; sees your anxieties but frees your spirit; recognizes your disabilities but emphasizes your possibilities."

"What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it if it comes."

"Often it isn't the initiating trauma that creates seemingly insurmountable pain, but the lack of support after."

"PTSD is best described as "I jumped out of my skin and kept on jumping."

"Decisions, actions, behaviors, thoughts and emotions can all seem amped up when you live with anxiety, fear, panic, and hypervigilance."

"The past is no good to us. The future is full of anxiety. Only the present is real--the here-and-now. Seize the day."

"Chronic anxiety is a state more undesirable than any other, and we will try almost any maneuver to eliminate it. Modern man is living in anxious anticipation of destruction. Such anxiety can be easily eliminated by self-destruction. As a German saying puts it: 'Better an end with terror than a terror without end."

"The only way I can describe the extent of my anxiety is to say that I felt as if I were pregnant with a rock."

"Always remember, if you have been diagnosed with PTSD, it is not a sign of weakness; rather, it is proof of your strength, because you have survived!"

"If you don't learn how to be scared, you'll never really learn how to be brave."

"Maybe everybody in the whole damn world is scared of each other."

"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear."

"If you are never scared, embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances."