22 Quotes You Need Right Now

I recently had to make the grueling decision to put my beloved Ani, an 18-year-old Lhasa Apso, to sleep. Her health had been failing over the past year, and while I knew the day would eventually come, it was beyond challenging to get through it. I’m still trying to pick up the bits of my heart that fell the moment she left this earth.

Loss is difficult. So is the stress, anxiety, despair and unrest that many are feeling at this time. I always find comfort in quotes – especially when I’m feeling blue – and so I wanted to share a collection of my favorites that relate to hope, laughter, caring, friendship and searching for calm. So, if you’re in need of a little pick me up, I’m hoping you’ll find these meaningful.

Hope

“Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings.” – Elie Wiesel

“My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return.” – Maya Angelou

“With optimism, you look upon the sunny side of things. People say, ‘Studs, you’re an optimist.’ I never said I was an optimist. I have hope because what’s the alternative to hope? Despair? If you have despair, you might as well put your head in the oven.” – Studs Terkel

“Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today.” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Laughter

“Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” – Kurt Vonnegut

“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.” – Victor Borge

“Hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors.” – Norman Cousins

“Laughter is not at all a bad beginning for a friendship, and it is far the best ending for one.” – Oscar Wilde

Caring

“A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside.” – Denis Waitley

“When you stop caring what people think, you lose your capacity for connection. When you’re defined by it, you lose your capacity for vulnerability.” – Brene Brown

“If you’d rather live surrounded by pristine objects than by the traces of happy memories, stay focused on tangible things. Otherwise, stop fixating on stuff you can touch and start caring about stuff that touches you.” – Martha Beck

“Everyone of us needs to show how much we care for each other and, in the process, care for ourselves.” – Princess Diana

Friendship

“You can always tell a real friend: when you’ve made a fool of yourself he doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job.” – Laurence J. Peter

“Some people go to priests; others to poetry; I to my friends.” – Virginia Woolf

“The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne.” – Samuel Johnson

“Your experiences will be yours alone. But truth and best friendship will rarely if ever disappoint you.” – Anne Lamott

Calm

“There are times when we stop, we sit still. We listen and breezes from a whole other world begin to whisper.” – James Carroll

“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” – Oprah Winfrey

“Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” – Hermann Hesse

“Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it.” – Brian Tracy

“Many a calm river begins as a turbulent waterfall, yet none hurtles and foams all the way to the sea.” – Mikhail Lermontov

“The day she let go of the things that were weighing her down, was the day she began to shine the brightest.” —Katrina Mayer