Depression is a hard mental illness to explain to people. Unless someone has struggled with depression themselves, they’ll never truly understand how it feels or what it is like. These quotes on depression can give you perspective and help you understand.
Having an understanding and a realistic perspective can help you or someone you love to keep fighting. Since it is an impossible illness to explain, these quotes on depression are the best way to do so.
As you will learn from these quotes on depression, depression is different than being sad. It causes those who battle with depression to feel hopeless, empty, and alone. This feeling doesn’t just go away like sadness does, either, and it doesn’t get better over time.
Fifteen Quotes on Depression
Understanding depression is important, especially if you or someone you love battles it. Remember these quotes on depression to give you perspective.
1. “I wanted to write down exactly what I felt, but somehow the paper stayed empty, and I could not have described it any better.” – Unknown
Depression leaves those who battle it feeling empty inside. It can be hard to describe the feelings because they are so uncertain.
A person who battles with depression also battles identifying what is going on in their heart and mind. Remember to give them some grace if they can’t explain what is wrong or tell you why they are down.
2. “You might feel so exhausted and overwhelmed from everything in life that you describe yourself as being ‘tired’ constantly. Not even resting or sleeping may help you fix this feeling.” – Unknown
Being depressed causes a constant feeling of exhaustion. No matter how much sleep a depressed person gets, they will likely always feel tired.
This is because life becomes overwhelming for them, and it uses all of the energy on little things. Plus, depression can cause insomnia, making a depressed person tired all of the time.
3. “Depression makes you isolated. It’s very hard to think of other people when you’re wrapped in a prickly blanket of sadness, and all you can think about is your own pain.” – Unknown
Depression is all-consuming, and it can cause someone not to consider the feelings of others. As depression causes someone to wallow, mope, and isolate themselves, it can cause damage to their relationships.
Keep this in mind if you know someone battling depression and continues being there for them, even if it seems they don’t think about you. It isn’t because they don’t love you or care about you. Instead, it is just that their depression has completely consumed their thoughts and feelings.
4. “Sometimes I wonder if I will ever be happy with myself. I worry that if I can’t be happy with myself, then nobody will ever be happy with me.” – Unknown
With depression comes negative self-talk and thoughts, causing the person to be unhappy with who they are. These thoughts and feelings then lead to assuming no one is happy with them and never will be.
5. “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
While you can’t see mental pain the way you see physical pain, it is still excruciating. Concealing the pain only makes it worse, but that’s what happens for most who battle depression. Since everyone can relate to physical pain, it’s easier to express that type of pain.
6. “The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts, but it’s a healthy feeling. It’s a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.” – J.K. Rowling
Depression takes away hope for the future. It causes those who battle depression to feel empty, which is different than what it is like to feel sad. Feeling sadness is a natural, healthy feeling, but depression goes much beyond that.
Depression interferes with a person’s life and causes them to isolate themselves and give up on their future. They won’t see something to look forward to or that things will ever get better. Sadness causes pain, but it doesn’t cause this extreme loss of hope.
7. “No one realizes how strong someone with depression has to be just to do daily stuff like shower, brush hair or get out of bed.” – Unknown
Many people with depression can’t get the motivation to take care of themselves. They will think that there is no point in it or too tired to do it. If getting out of bed, taking a shower, and doing their hair is the only thing they did, it might be a bigger accomplishment than you realize.
8. “One swallow does not make a summer, neither does one fine day; similarly, one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy.” – Aristotle
Just because someone has a good or happy day occasionally doesn’t mean they aren’t struggling. You may see someone smiling or laughing, but inside they are struggling with depression. Don’t assume someone has gotten better just because they are having a good day.
9. “You look happy, but you don’t feel happy. That’s what depression does to you.” – Unknown
Those who struggle with depression tend to hide their struggle. They become good at appearing happy and fine as they go about their daily routine, but inside they feel empty. So, seeing someone look happy doesn’t necessarily mean they are truly happy.
10. “There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” – Laurell K. Hamilton
Even though you can’t see the pain, those with depression are hurting more than you could imagine. This feeling goes deep for them, and it seems there is nothing that can make it feel better.
11. “When depression takes over, and I can’t push through it, I have to close my door and shut the world out. It’s the only way I know how to survive.” – Unknown
Depression causes those who battle it to isolate themselves often. When things get too much for them, they will withdraw from others and spend their time alone. It’s nothing personal. It is just the way they handle the overwhelming depression.
12. “If you know someone who’s depressed, please resolve never to ask them why. Depression isn’t a straightforward response to a bad situation; depression just is, like the weather.” – Stephen Fry
Asking someone why they are depressed won’t give you any answers. If they could tell you why they would be able to fix the mental illness. Plus, it isn’t as simple as figuring out why it is just something that happens.
13. “When you suffer from depression, ‘I’m tired’ means a permanent state of exhaustion that sleep doesn’t fix.” – Unknown
As many of these quotes on depression explain, depression causes exhaustion. Even if the person battling depression takes naps or sleeps through the night, they may still be tired. It isn’t that they are lazy, but they are depressed, and life gets to be too much.
14. “When you’re surrounded by all these people, it can be lonelier than when you’re by yourself. You can be in a huge crowd, but if you don’t feel like you can trust anyone or talk to anybody, you feel like you’re really alone.” – Fiona Apple
Depression can make it seem like someone is alone, even when people surround them. Even worse, the more people there are, the more alone they will feel. This feeling is because depression can make them think they can’t trust or count on anyone, making them always feel isolated.
15. “That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end.” – Elizabeth Wurtzel
Depression makes it seem like there is no end to the pain and suffering. It will seem like things will always be bad and that there is no hope for the future.
Final Thoughts on Quotes on Depression to Give You Perspective
Depression is hard to deal with, but it’s even harder to understand. Those who don’t battle depression can’t truly know what it is like, but these quotes on depression can give you perspective. It isn’t something that people choose or can control. Instead, it is just something that happens.
No matter the reason, depression causes people to feel alone, empty, and like there is no hope. It can be debilitating and interfere with relationships, jobs, and even getting ready for the day. Remember these quotes on depression to give you a perspective on the illness.
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