Top 100 Pain Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “The cure for pain is in the pain.”

— Rumi

Also featured in: Short Inspiring Quotes, Poetry Quotes, Spirituality Quotes, Struggle Quotes

2. “Failure gave me strength. Pain was my motivation.”

— Michael Jordan

Also featured in: Persistence Quotes, Failure Quotes, Athlete Quotes, Motivational Monday Quotes

3. “To live is to suffer, to survive is to find some meaning in the suffering.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

Also featured in: Life Philosophy Quotes, Philosophical Quotes, Depressing Quotes, Struggle Quotes

4. “Where there is anger, there is always pain underneath.”

— Eckhart Tolle

Also featured in: Hurt Quotes, Anger Quotes

5. “That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

Also featured in: Courage Quotes, Perseverance Quotes, Quotes About Strength, Failure Quotes

6. “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

— C. S. Lewis

Also featured in: Spiritual Growth Quotes, Life is Hard Quotes, Faith Quotes, Struggle Quotes

7. “If there is meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.”

— Viktor E. Frankl

Also featured in: Life is Hard Quotes, Sad Quotes, Existentialism Quotes, Meaning of Life Quotes, Suffering Quotes

8. “Waiting is painful. Forgetting is painful. But not knowing which to do is the worst kind of suffering.”

— Paulo Coelho

Also featured in: Deep Quotes About Life, Emotional Quotes, Sad Quotes, Suffering Quotes

9. “As long as you make an identity for yourself out of pain, you cannot be free of it.”

— Eckhart Tolle

Also featured in: Motivational Quotes, Deep Quotes About Life, Self-Realization Quotes, Philosophical Quotes

10. “Being an entrepreneur is like eating glass and staring into the abyss of death.”

— Elon Musk

Also featured in: Inspirational Entrepreneurship Quotes, Obstacles Quotes, Depressing Quotes, Challenges Quotes

11. “Pain is weakness leaving the body.”

— United States Marine Corps

Also featured in: Quotes About Strength, Service Quotes, Warrior Quotes, Motivational Workout Quotes

12. “I used my pain to push me to greatness.”

— Eric Thomas

Also featured in: Perseverance Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Success, Empowering Quotes, Short Inspirational Quotes

13. “The root of suffering is attachment.”

— Buddha

Also featured in: Famous Quotes, Spiritual Growth Quotes, Deep Quotes, Life Philosophy Quotes

14. “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

— Khalil Gibran

Also featured in: Quotes About Strength, Deep Quotes About Life, Life Lessons Quotes, Obstacles Quotes

15. “It hurts now, but one day it will be your warm up.”

— Anonymous

Also featured in: Short Inspiring Quotes, Motivational Workout Quotes, Challenges Quotes

16. “Compassion is the wish to see others free from suffering.”

— Dalai Lama XIV

Also featured in: Emotion Quotes, Values Quotes, Spirituality Quotes, Helping Others Quotes

17. “Write hard and clear about what hurts. ”

— Ernest Hemingway

Also featured in: Emotional Quotes, Quotes About Writing, Struggle Quotes, Suffering Quotes

18. “Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Also featured in: Happiness Quotes, Deep Quotes About Life, Quotes About Humanity, Sorrow Quotes, Depression Quotes

19. “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.”

— Anonymous

Also featured in: Relationship Quotes, Loss Quotes, Broken Heart Quotes

20. “What is to give light must endure burning.”

— Viktor E. Frankl

Also featured in: Deep Quotes About Life, Existentialism Quotes

21. “Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.”

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Also featured in: Life is Hard Quotes, Philosophical Quotes, Depressing Quotes, Existentialism Quotes, Sorrow Quotes

22. “You can't avoid pain, but you can choose to overcome it.”

— Paulo Coelho

Also featured in: Positive Life Quotes, Short Inspiring Quotes, Motivational Quotes About Life, Moving On Quotes

23. “You can feel sore tomorrow or you can feel sorry tomorrow. You choose.”

— Anonymous

Also featured in: Positivity Quotes, Choices Quotes, Motivational Workout Quotes

24. “At the end of pain is SUCCESS!”

— Eric Thomas

Also featured in: Hustle Quotes, Self-Empowerment Quotes, Giving Up Quotes, Fitness Quotes

25. “Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain.”

— Bob Dylan

Also featured in: Emotion Quotes, Suffering Quotes, Hurt Quotes

26. “That’s the thing about pain, it demands to be felt.”

— John Green

Also featured in: Fiction Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Quotes About Feelings

27. “To truly laugh, you must be able to take your pain, and play with it.”

— Charlie Chaplin

Also featured in: Suffering Quotes, Sorrow Quotes, Humor Quotes

28. “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

— C. S. Lewis

Also featured in: Suffering Quotes, Sorrow Quotes

29. “Suffering only shows where you are attached. That is why, to those on the path, suffering is grace.”

— Ram Dass

Also featured in: Enlightenment Quotes, Spiritual Growth Quotes, Path Quotes, Suffering Quotes

30. “May all that have life be delivered from suffering.”

— Buddha

Also featured in: Blessing Quotes, Practice Quotes, Kindness Quotes, Buddhist Quotes

31. “The sadness will last forever.”

— Vincent van Gogh

Also featured in: Artist Quotes, Depression Quotes, Sadness Quotes

32. “It is better to be unhappy and know the worst, than to be happy in a fool’s paradise.”

— Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Also featured in: Intelligent Quotes, Truth Quotes, Sorrow Quotes, Depression Quotes

33. “I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.”

— Maya Angelou

Also featured in: Experience Quotes, Inspirational Quotes for Women, Meaningful Quotes, Positive Quotes for Women

34. “When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

Also featured in: Empathy Quotes, Emotion Quotes, Spiritual Growth Quotes, Kindness Quotes, Buddhist Quotes

35. “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.”

— Tony Robbins

Also featured in: Transformation Quotes, Live Life Quotes, Coaching Quotes, Empowerment Quotes

36. “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply.”

— A.W. Tozer

Also featured in: Suffering Quotes, Adversity Quotes, Hurt Quotes

37. “I assess the power of a will by how much resistance, pain, torture it endures and knows how to turn to its advantage.”

— Friedrich Nietzsche

Also featured in: Quotes About Strength, Willpower Quotes, Philosophy Quotes, Suffering Quotes

38. “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

— Ernest Hemingway

Also featured in: Hard Hitting Quotes, Sad Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Suffering Quotes

39. “It is here that we encounter the central theme of existentialism: to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.”

— Viktor E. Frankl

Also featured in: Meaningful Quotes, Life is Hard Quotes, Existentialism Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Meaning of Life Quotes

40. “You can’t be afraid of people willing to hurt you, cause if you fear life, then you will never live.”

— Chester Bennington

Also featured in: Live Life Quotes, Deep Quotes, Life Is Short Quotes, Fear Quotes

41. “Never run back to what broke you.”

— Frank Ocean

Also featured in: Relationship Quotes, Personality Quotes, Moving On Quotes, Struggle Quotes

42. “To be always fortunate, and to pass through life with a soul that has never known sorrow, is to be ignorant of one half of nature.”

— Seneca

Also featured in: Struggle Quotes, Philosophy Quotes, Sorrow Quotes

43. “Nothing is more beautiful than a smile that has struggled through tears.”

— Demi Lovato

Also featured in: Emotion Quotes, Mental Health Quotes, Encouraging Quotes, Depression Quotes

44. “There are two pains in life. There is the pain of discipline and the pain of disappointment. If you can handle the pain of discipline, then you’ll never have to deal with the pain of disappointment.”

— Nick Saban

Also featured in: Coaching Quotes, Practice Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Sports Quotes

45. “Later that night, I held an atlas on my lap, ran my fingers across the whole world, and whispered, ‘where does it hurt?’ It answered, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.”

— Warsan Shire

Also featured in: Emotional Quotes, Sad Quotes, Quotes About Humanity, Sorrow Quotes

46. “If you don’t like something, don’t do it. But don’t forget this: NO PAIN, NO GAIN.”

— Serge Nubret

Also featured in: Fitness Quotes, Being Strong Quotes, Work Hard Quotes, Motivational Quotes for Men

47. “There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”

— C.G. Jung

Also featured in: Psychology Quotes, Sports Quotes, Adversity Quotes

48. “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”

— Charles Dickens

Also featured in: Experience Quotes, Struggle Quotes, Suffering Quotes, Sorrow Quotes

49. “Not why the addiction, but why the pain.”

— Gabor Maté

Also featured in: Psychology Quotes, Addiction Quotes

50. “Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.”

— Ovid

Also featured in: Deep Quotes About Life, Struggle Quotes, Motivational Bodybuilding Quotes