I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
I do not pray for a lighter load, but for a stronger back.
—Phillips Brooks (1835–93) American Episcopal Clergyman, Author
Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.
—Robert Fulghum (b.1937) American Unitarian Universalist Author, Essayist, Clergyman
We wouldn’t worry nearly as much about what others thought of us if we recognize how seldom they do.
—Paulo Coelho (b.1947) Brazilian Songwriter, Novelist
I try not to worry about the future — so I take each day just one anxiety attack at a time
—Tom Wilson (1931–2011) American Cartoonist
The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you’ll grow out of it.
—Doris Day (1924–2019) American Actor, Singer, Animal Rights Activist
Let no feeling of discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
When you suffer an attack of nerves you’re being attacked by the nervous system. What chance has a man got against a system?
—Russell Hoban (1925–2011) American Novelist, Children’s Writer
A great many worries can be diminished by realizing the unimportance of the matter which is causing anxiety.
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
As a rule, men worry more about what they can’t see than about what they can.
—Julius Caesar (c.100–44BCE) Roman Statesman, Military General
When I really worry about something, I don’t just fool around. I even have to go to the bathroom when I worry about something. Only, I don’t go. I’m too worried to go. I don’t want to interrupt my worrying to go.
—J. D. Salinger (1919–2010) American Novelist, Short-story Writer
Sometimes I worry about being a success in a mediocre world.
—Lily Tomlin (b.1939) American Comedy Actress
One cannot change the past, but one can ruin the present by worrying over the future.
—Unknown
The best cure for worry, depression, melancholy, brooding, is to go deliberately forth and try to lift with one’s sympathy the gloom of somebody else.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a heav’n of hell, a hell of heav’n.
—John Milton (1608–74) English Poet, Civil Servant, Scholar, Debater
Worry is the only insupportable misfortune of life.
—Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751) English Politician, Philosopher
Blessed is the man who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.
—Anonymous
Some men storm imaginary Alps all their lives, and die in the foothills cursing difficulties which do not exist.
—E. W. Howe (1853–1937) American Novelist, Editor
Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Most people go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience.
—Diane Arbus (1923–71) American Photographer
You’re neither right nor wrong because other people agree with you. You’re right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right—and that’s the only thing that makes you right. And if your facts and reasoning are right, you don’t have to worry about anybody else.
—Warren Buffett (b.1930) American Investor
I never worry about being driven to drink; I just worry about being driven home.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
Little minds have little worries, big minds have no time for worries.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; exercise; go slow and easy. Maybe there are other things your special case requires to make you happy, but my friend, these I reckon will give you a good lift.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
There is no such thing as pure pleasure; some anxiety always goes with it.
—Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) (c.43 BCE–c.18 CE) Roman Poet
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
True happiness is to understand our duties toward God and man; to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence on the future; not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears, but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is abundantly sufficient.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
We are more disturbed by a calamity which threatens us than by one which has befallen us.
—John Lancaster Spalding (1840–1916) American Catholic Clergyman, Educator, Essayist, Biographer
If things happen all the time you are never nervous. It is when they are not happening that you are nervous.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Worry is like a rocking chair–it gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
—Lucille S. Harper American Freelance Writer
As a cure for worrying, work is better than whiskey.
—Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American Inventor, Scientist, Entrepreneur
To be rich is not the end, but only a change, of worries.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
Of course I realized there was a measure of danger. Obviously I faced the possibility of not returning when I first considered going. Once faced and settled there really wasn’t any good reason to refer to it again.
—Amelia Earhart (1897–1937) American Aviator
The freedom now desired by many is not freedom to do and dare but freedom from care and worry.
—James Truslow Adams (1878–1949) American Historian, Writer
It is reported that more than 90% of what we worry about never happens. That means that our negative worries have less than a 10% chance of being correct. If this is so, isn’t being positive more realistic than being negative? Think about your own life. I’ll wager that most of what you worry about never happens. So are you being realistic when you worry all the time? No!
—Susan Jeffers (1938–2012) American Psychologist, Self-Help Author
Anxiety about the future never profits; we feel no evil until it comes, and when we feel it, no counsel helps; wisdom is either too early or too late.
—Friedrich Ruckert (1788–1866) German Poet, Translator
Loneliness, insomnia, and change: the fear of these is even worse than the reality.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
As a rule, what is out of sight disturbs men’s minds more seriously than what they see.
—Julius Caesar (c.100–44BCE) Roman Statesman, Military General
The task of worrying is to come up with positive solutions for life’s perils by anticipating dangers before they arise. If we are preoccupied by worries, we have that must less attention to expend on figuring out the answers. Our worries become self-fulfilling prophecies, propelling us toward the very disaster they predict.
—Daniel Goleman (b.1946) American Psychologist, Author, Science Journalist
Anxiety never yet successfully bridged any chasm.
—Giovanni Ruffini (1807–81) Italian Writer, Patriot
A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work. Worry upsets our whole system, work keeps it in health and order.
—John Lubbock (1834–1913) English Politician, Biologist
If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you and you have to battle with only one of them.
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) American Head of State, Lawyer
I’ve developed a new philosophy … I only dread one day at a time.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
If pleasures are greatest in anticipation, just remember that this is also true of troubles.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
You’ll break the worry habit the day you decide you can meet and master the worse that can happen to you.
—Arnold Glasow (1905–98) American Businessman
Worry is interest paid on trouble before it falls due.
—Unknown
When things are perfect, that’s when you need to worry most.
—Drew Barrymore (b.1975) American Actress, Producer, Director
Where everything is bad it must be good to know the worst.
—F. H. Bradley (1846–1924 ) British Idealist Philosopher
The work of worrying — when it succeeds — is to rehearse what those dangers are, and reflect on ways to deal with them. But worry doesn’t work all that well. New solutions and fresh ways of seeing a problem do not typically come from worrying, especially chronic worry. Instead of coming up with solutions to these potential problems, worriers typically ruminate on the danger itself, immersing themselves in a low-key way in the dread associated with it while staying in the same rut of thought. Chronic worriers worry about a wide range of things, most of which have almost no chance of happening; they read dangers into life’s journey that others never notice.
—Daniel Goleman (b.1946) American Psychologist, Author, Science Journalist
Worry, doubt, fear and despair are the enemies which slowly bring us down to the ground and turn us to dust before we die.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
He had kept his head, kept his health and his strength, bearing up under a weight of work and worry that only a few could have carried.
—David McCullough (b.1933) American Historian
After all, our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation.
—Honore de Balzac (1799–1850) French Novelist
The worst is not so long as we can say, “This is the worst”.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
We have to fight them daily, like fleas, those many small worries about the morrow, for they sap our energies.
—Etty Hillesum (1914–43) Dutch Diarist, Holocaust Victim
As I have not worried to be born, I do not worry to die.
—Federico Garcia Lorca (1898–1936) Spanish Poet
It has been well said that no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when to-morrow’s burden is added to the burden of to-day that the weight is more than a man can bear.
—George MacDonald (1824–1905) Scottish Novelist, Lecturer, Poet
Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don’t worry…I’m here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Worry is evidence of an ill-controlled brain; it is merely a stupid waste of time in unpleasantness. If men and women practiced mental calisthenics as they do physical calisthenics, they would purge their brains of this foolishness.
—Arnold Bennett (1867–1931) British Novelist, Playwright, Critic
It has been said that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength.
—Charles Spurgeon (1834–92) English Baptist Preacher
I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.
—Alice Walker (b.1944) American Novelist, Activist
I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.
—Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) American Military Leader
People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins they wonder whether they are catching cold.
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933) American Biographer, Poet, Essayist, Writer
Stop worrying — nobody gets out of this world alive.
—Clive James (1939–2019) Australian Writer, Broadcaster, TV Critic
It is the little bits of things that fret and worry us; we can dodge a elephant, but we can’t dodge a fly.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
The torment of precautions often exceeds the dangers to be avoided. It is sometimes better to abandon one’s self to destiny.
—Napoleon I (1769–1821) Emperor of France
Cast your cares on God; that anchor holds.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) British Poet
Everybody knows if you are too careful you are so occupied in being careful that you are sure to stumble over something.
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946) American Writer
Life is eating us up. We shall be fables presently. Keep cool: It will all be one a hundred years hence.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The man who is always worrying whether or not his soul would be damned generally has a soul that isn’t worth a damn.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
It only seems as if you are doing something when you’re worrying.
—Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942) Canadian Novelist
Don’t worry ’bout a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright.
—Bob Marley (1945–81) Jamaican Musician, Singer, Songwriter
It is not work that kills men; it is worry. Work is healthy; you can hardly put more on a man than he can bear. But worry is rust upon the blade. It is movement that destroys the machinery, but friction.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
I finally know what distinguishes man from the other beasts: financial worries.
—Jules Renard (1864–1910) French Writer, Diarist
Worry not about the possible troubles of the future; for if they come, you are but anticipating and adding to their weight; and if they do not come, your worry is useless; and in either case it is weak and in vain, and a distrust of God’s providence.
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
We consume our tomorrows fretting about our yesterdays.
—Persius (34–62 CE) Roman Satirist
Love looks forward, hate looks back, anxiety has eyes all over its head.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
I think these difficult times have helped me to understand better than before how infinitely rich and beautiful life is in every way and that so many things that one goes around worry about are of no importance whatsoever.
—Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen) (1885–1962) Danish Novelist, Short-story Writer
Worry compounds the futility of being trapped on a dead-end street. Thinking opens new avenues.
—Cullen Hightower (b.1923) American Humorist
We often hear of people breaking down from overwork, but in nine out of ten they are really suffering from worry or anxiety.
—John Lubbock (1834–1913) English Politician, Biologist
If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about one year ago today.
—E. Joseph Cossman
We can always get along better by reason and love of truth than by worry of conscience and remorse. Harmful are these, and evil.
—Baruch Spinoza (1632–77) Dutch Philosopher, Theologian
Don’t worry about your heart, it will last you as long as you live.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Actor, Comedian, Writer
We have a problem. “Congratulations.” But it’s a tough problem. “Then double congratulations.”
—W. Clement Stone (1902–2002) American Self-help Guru, Entrepreneur
Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.
—Karen Horney (1885–1952) German-born American Psychoanalyst
Now that I am ninety-five years old, looking back over the years, I have seen many changes taking place, so many inventions have been made. Things now go faster. In olden times things were not so rushed. I think people were more content, more satisfied with life than they are today. You don’t hear nearly as much laughter and shouting as you did in my day, and what was fun for us wouldn’t be fun now…. In this age I don’t think people are as happy, they are worried. They’re too anxious to get ahead of their neighbors, they are striving and striving to get something better. I do think in a way that they have too much now. We did with much less.
—Grandma Moses (1860–1961) American Painter, Artist
Those who commit injustice bear the greatest burden.
—Hosea Ballou (1771–1852) American Theologian
Doubts and jealousies often beget the facts they fear.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
To repent is not to feel remorse, but to face one’s faults, realizing they are faults, and try one’s best not to make the same mistake again. If one does that, one is already making amends.
—Master Sheng-Yen (1931–2009) Chinese Buddhist Monk, Scholar
Turn resolutely to work, to recreation, or in any case to physical exercise till you are so tired you can’t help going to sleep, and when you wake up you won’t want to worry.
—B. C. Forbes (1880–1954) Scottish-born American Journalist, Publisher
Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden.
—Corrie Ten Boom (1892–1983) Dutch Jewish Humanist
Nothing in the affairs of men is worthy of great anxiety.
—Plato (428 BCE–347 BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Mathematician, Educator
When late morning rolls around and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish
—A. A. Milne (1882–1956) British Humorist, Playwright, Children’s Writer
Worry a little every day and in a lifetime you will lose a couple of years. If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry. Worry never fixes anything.
—Mary Welsh Hemingway (1908–1986) American Journalist, Author
Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.
—Richard Bach (b.1936) American Novelist, Aviator
I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.
—Jack London (1876–1916) American Novelist
They need to worry and betray time with urgencies false and otherwise, purely anxious and whiny, their souls really won’t be at peace unless they can latch on to an established and proven worry and having once found it they assume facial expressions to fit and go with it, which is, you see, unhappiness, and all the time it all flies by them and they know it and that too worries them no end.
—Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) American Novelist, Poet
My life has been full of terrible misfortunes most of which never happened.
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) French Essayist
Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It’s already tomorrow in Australia.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. We should live for the future, and yet should find our life in the fidelities of the present; the last is only the method of the first.
—Henry Ward Beecher (1813–87) American Clergyman, Writer
That’s the secret to life … replace one worry with another.
—Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) American Cartoonist, Writer, Artist
Anxiety is the poison of human life; the parent of many sins and of more miseries. — In a world where everything is doubtful, and where we may be disappointed, and be blessed in disappointment, why this restless stir and commotion of mind? — Can it alter the cause, or unravel the mystery of human events?
—Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Scottish Preacher, Scholar, Critic
People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose.
—Eckhart Tolle (b.1948) German Spiritual Writer, Public Speaker, Spiritual Teacher
Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.
—Pliny the Younger (c.61–c.112 CE) Roman Senator, Writer
Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.
—Maya Angelou (1928–2014) American Poet