Life is a journey of both beauty and challenges.
During times of pain — whether emotional or physical — healing becomes paramount. Healing is a deeply personal process, often accompanied by introspection, acceptance, and the passage of time. It’s a transformative experience that reshapes our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Throughout history, countless thinkers, writers, spiritual leaders, and survivors have shared their insights on healing. Their words provide solace, understanding, and guidance for those navigating their own paths of recovery. They offer reminders that even in our most vulnerable moments, we are not alone — and that healing is not only possible but is also a testament to human resilience.
Whether you’re facing emotional wounds, mending from physical pain, or supporting someone else in their healing journey — these curated quotes offer a comforting hand.
Dive into this collection of healing quotes. May they serve as a balm for your soul, reminding you of the innate power you possess to heal, grow, and transform:
The Best Quotes About Healing
Famous Quotes
“Healing yourself is connected with healing others.”
— Yoko Ono
“As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else.”
— Maya Angelou
“We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.”
— Marcel Proust
“Everybody has losses — it’s unavoidable in life. Sharing our pain is very healing.”
— Isabel Allende
“We cannot ignore our pain and feel compassion for it at the same time.”
— Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
“No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.”
— Maya Angelou
“Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before — more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle.”
— Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Inspirational Quotes
“Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.”
— Sai Baba
“My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.”
— Steve Goodier
“Our sorrows and wounds are healed only when we touch them with compassion.”
— Buddha
“I began to see how giving a voice to my struggles and being honest opened up the door for recovery. I learned to celebrate my victories and navigate challenges with the support of people who were on a similar journey. I learned to treat that journey — with all its ups and downs — with grace and compassion. Here, I learned that healing happens together, in the raw and messy places of our hearts and our stories.”
— Brianna Bulman, on the TWLOMA blog
“Every struggle in your life has shaped you into the person you are today. Be thankful for the hard times, they can only make you stronger.”
— Keanu Reeves
“There is magic in life again, and my healing is a testament to it. In fact, I think there is magic in healing, too. A reminder to myself to open my heart again, trust love one more time again, love the small things all too greatly again.”
— Kady Braswell, on the TWLOHA blog
“Instead of being ashamed of what you’ve been through, be proud of what you have overcome.”
— Dr. Phil
On Healing Grief
“There is beauty in the journey, regardless of the outcome. Let’s grieve and hope, and fight together.”
— Marie White
“Give sorrow words. The grief that does not speak whispers the o’re-fraught heart, and bids it break...”
— William Shakespeare, Macbeth
“What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes part of us.”
— Helen Keller
“Whatever comes, we let it be as it is. When we do this, we come to see, in this moment or the next, our emotions always moving. The word emotion has its roots in the Latin movere and emovere meaning “to move through” and “to move out”. Our emotions move in us, move through us and move between us. And when we allow them to move freely, they change, perhaps scarcely and perhaps gradually — but inevitably.”
— Joanne Cacciatore, Bearing the Unbearable: Love, Loss, and the Heartbreaking Path of Grief
“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
“We’re expected to go back to work immediately, keep moving, to get on with our lives. But it doesn’t work that way. We need time to move through the pain of loss. We need to step into it, really to get to know it, in order to learn”
— Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Grief and Grieving: Finding the Meaning of Grief Through the Five Stages of Loss
“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”
— Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
On Healing Trauma
“In general, the ability to make sense of tragedy and then find benefit in it is the key that unlocks post traumatic growth.”
— Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis
“So often survivors have had their experiences denied, trivialized, or distorted. Writing is an important avenue for healing because it gives you the opportunity to define your own reality. You can say: This did happen to me. It was that bad. It was the fault & responsibility of the adult. I was — and am — innocent.”
— Ellen Bass & Laura Davis, The Courage to Heal
“I had no idea that mothering my own child would be so healing to my own sadness from my childhood.”
— Susie Bright
“Justice is not Healing. Healing cometh only by suffering and patience, and maketh no demand, not even for Justice.”
— J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
“The reason why you need emotional support is because it’s important for survivors to be heard. To be understood. To be able to express yourself without fearing criticism or harsh judgment. To be validated for your pain, suffering, and loss. For others to be there for you to encourage you, especially if you’re having a bad day or feeling triggered.”
— Dana Arcuri, Soul Cry: Releasing & Healing the Wounds of Trauma
“I have come to the conclusion that human beings are born with an innate capacity to triumph over trauma. I believe not only that trauma is curable, but that the healing process can be a catalyst for profound awakening — a portal opening to emotional and genuine spiritual transformation. I have little doubt that as individuals, families, communities, and even nations, we have the capacity to learn how to heal and prevent much of the damage done by trauma. In so doing, we will significantly increase our ability to achieve both our individual and collective dreams.”
— Peter A. Levine, Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body
“As every therapist will tell you, healing involves discomfort. But so is refusing to heal. And over time, refusing to heal is always more painful.”
— Resmaa Menakem
“Your world has fallen apart before. Time and time again and the rest of the world has still kept going despite the fact that you are broken. And after thinking you will never recover, never get up off the floor again, you have, dusted yourself off and carried on. If you have survived your world shattering, over and over again, and you are still here, a bit damaged, a bit broken but still here — you should be proud of yourself. Because that is no small thing.”
— Nikita Gill
Short Quotes
“Awareness is the first step in healing.”
— Dean Ornish
“I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.”
— Frida Kahlo
“Time heals all wounds.”
— Stephen King, Hearts in Atlantis
“The best way out is always through.”
— Robert Frost
“The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family.”
— Mother Teresa
“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
— Carl Jung
“Can I see another’s woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s grief, and not seek for kind relief?”
— Sir William Blake
“One of the hardest things was learning I was worth recovery.”
— Demi Lovato
“It’s when we start working together that the real healing takes place.”
— David Hume
More Quotes
“Healing is a different type of pain. It’s the pain of becoming aware of the power of one’s strength and weakness, of one’s capacity to love or do damage to oneself and to others, and of how the most challenging person to control in life is ultimately yourself.”
— Caroline Myss
“Hope is a funny thing because in a way it’s everywhere. Like, people will say ‘Everything happens for a reason’ or ‘It will all work out in the end’ — which are very hopeful sentiments — it’s just that they’re also, you know, bullshit. And for me anyway, they just don’t hold up in the face of real suffering. But I’ll tell you what does hold up for me. There’s an Emily Dickinson poem that starts out, ‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all.’
And you’ll notice that Emily Dickinson doesn’t say that one never stops hearing the song of hope — only that it doesn’t stop playing.
I’m really sorry that you’re in so much pain, and your pain is real, but the song of hope is still singing. And I know you can’t hear it, but someday soon you will.”
— John Green
“In many cases, people hold on so tightly to their past pains to avoid letting go of the “excuses” and the fear of having to be accountable for their life.”
— Yvonne Pierre
“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”
— Martin Luther King Jr.
“Meditation can help us embrace our worries, our fear, our anger; and that is very healing. We let our own natural capacity of healing do the work.”
— Thich Nhat Hanh
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.”
— Socrates
“I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music.”
— Billy Joel
“People are afraid to heal because their entire identity is centered around the trauma they’ve experienced. They have no idea who they are outside of trauma and that unknown is terrifying.”
— Ebonee Davis
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”
— Hippocrates
