68 Depression Quotes to Understand What is Depression and How It Feels Like

“Depression is the devil’s playground.” Unknown

“The real fear of depression isn’t dying, it’s living with yourself, forever.”

“Depression, suffering, and anger are all part of being human.” Janet Fitch

“Depression doesn’t take away your talents—it just makes them harder to find.” Lady Gaga

“You will never understand the hell I feel inside my head.” Priyanshu Singh

“When people don’t know exactly what depression is, they can be judgmental.” Marion Cotillard

“You’re not a bad person for the ways you tried to kill your sadness.” Anonymous

“The only thing more exhausting than being depressed is pretending that you’re not depressed.” Anonymous

“A big part of depression is feeling really lonely, even if you’re in a room full of a million people.” Lilly Singh

“Depression is being colorblind and constantly told how colorful the world is.” Atticus, Love Her Wild

“Almost everyone is overconfident—except the people who are depressed, and they tend to be realists.” Joseph T. Hallinan

“Anyone who has actually been that sad can tell you that there’s nothing beautiful or literary or mysterious about depression.”

“I was so scared to give up depression, fearing that somehow the worst part of me was actually all of me. ” Elizabeth Wurtzel

“The hardest thing about depression is that it is addictive. It begins to feel uncomfortable not to be depressed. You feel guilty for feeling happy.” Pete Wentz

“Perhaps depression is caused by asking oneself too many unanswerable questions.” Miriam Toews, Swing Low

“Our Generation has had no great war, no great depression. Our war is spiritual. Our depression is our lives.” Chuck Palahniuk

“It is very hard to explain to people who have never known serious depression or anxiety the sheer continuous intensity of it. There is no off switch.” Matt Haig

“Losing your life is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living.” Jo Nesbo

“I’ll never forget how the depression and loneliness felt good and bad at the same time. Still does.” Henry Rollins, The Portable Henry Rollins

“Whenever someone tells me to ‘Just be happy,’ I want to yell, ‘Oh, hey, depression’s gone! Why didn’t I think of that?’ But usually, I just roll my eyes instead.” Anonymous

“Depression is like a heaviness that you can’t ever escape. It crushes down on you, making even the smallest things like tying your shoes or chewing on toast seem like a twenty-mile hike uphill. Depression is a part of you; it’s in your bones and your blood.” Jasmine Warga

“Depression, for me, has been a couple of different things – but the first time I felt it, I felt helpless, hopeless, and things I had never felt before. I lost myself and my will to live.” Ginger Zee

“Depression isn’t a war you win. It’s a battle you fight every day. You never stop, never get to rest. It’s one bloody fray after another.” Shaun David Hutchinson, We Are the Ants

Depression is living in a body that fights to survive, with a mind that tries to die. Unknown

“People who have never dealt with depression think it’s just being sad or being in a bad mood. That’s not what depression is for me; it’s falling into a state of grayness and numbness.” Dan Reynolds

You don’t understand depression until you can’t stand your own presence in an empty room. Unknown.

“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, Prozac Nation

“There is no point treating a depressed person as though she were just feeling sad, saying, ‘There now, hang on, you’ll get over it.’ Sadness is more or less like a head cold – with patience, it passes. Depression is like cancer.” Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees

“Depression is like a bruise that never goes away. A bruise in your mind. You just got to be careful not to touch it where it hurts. It’s always there, though.” Jeffrey Eugenides, The Marriage Plot

“Depression is feeling like you’ve lost something but having no clue when or where you last had it. Then one day you realize what you lost is yourself.” Anonymous

“People think depression is sadness, crying, and dressing in black; which is not true. Depression is the constant feeling of being numb. Being numb to emotions, being numb to life. You wake up in the morning just to go to bed again.” Anonymous

“Having anxiety and depression is like being scared and tired at the same time. It’s the fear of failure, but no urge to be productive. It’s wanting friends, but hating socializing. It’s wanting to be alone, but not wanting to be lonely. It’s feeling everything at once then feeling paralyzingly numb.” Anonymous

“You’re like a grey sky. You’re beautiful, even though you don’t want to be.” Jasmine Warga, My Heart, and Other Black Holes

“You say you’re ‘depressed’ – all I see is resilience. You are allowed to feel messed up and inside out. It doesn’t mean you’re defective – it just means you’re human.” David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

“I understand your pain. Trust me, I do. I’ve seen people go from the darkest moments in their lives to living a happy, fulfilling life. You can do it too. I believe in you. You are not a burden. You will NEVER be a burden.” Sophie Turner

“Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, first make sure that you are not, in fact, just surrounded by a**holes.” Debihope

“I am bent, but not broken. I am scarred, but not disfigured. I am sad, but not hopeless. I am tired, but not powerless. I am angry, but not bitter. I am depressed, but not giving up.” Anonymous

“I have depression. But I prefer to say, ‘I battle’ depression instead of ‘I suffer’ with it. Because depression hits, but I hit back. Battle on.” Anonymous

“It’s my mission to share this with the world and to let them know that there is life on the other side of those dark times that seem so hopeless and helpless. I want to show the world that there is life — surprising, wonderful and unexpected life after diagnosis.” Demi Lovato ​

“Don’t worry if people think you’re crazy. You are crazy. You have that kind of intoxicating insanity that lets other people dream outside of the lines and become who they’re destined to be.” Jennifer Elisabeth, Born Ready: Unleash Your Inner Dream Girl

“Take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. You’re doing just fine.” Charlotte Eriksson

“Depression weighs you down like a rock in a river. You don’t stand a chance. You can fight and pray and hope you have the strength to swim, but sometimes, you have to let yourself sink. Because you’ll never know true happiness until someone or something pulls you back out of that river–and you’ll never believe it until you realize it was you, yourself who saved you.” Alysha Speer

“Try to understand the blackness, lethargy, hopelessness, and loneliness they’re going through. Be there for them when they come through the other side. It’s hard to be a friend to someone who’s depressed, but it is one of the kindest, noblest, and best things you will ever do.” Stephen Fry

“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

“It is okay to have depression, it is okay to have anxiety and it is okay to have an adjustment disorder. We need to improve the conversation. We all have mental health in the same way we all have physical health.” Prince Harry

“Be brave; be strong; take your pills. Exercise because it’s good for you even if every step weighs a thousand pounds. Eat when food itself disgusts you. Reason with yourself when you have lost your reason.” Andrew Solomon

Repeat after me: “My mental health problems are real and they are valid. I will not judge myself for the bad days when I can barely get out of bed. I will not make myself feel worse because someone else appears to be handling their mental illness better than I am handling mine. Recovery is not a competition.” Matt Joseph Diaz

“Depression is your body saying, ‘I don’t want to be this character anymore. I don’t want to hold up this avatar that you’ve created in the world. It’s too much for me. You should think of the word ‘depressed’ as ‘deep rest.’ Your body needs to be depressed. It needs deep rest from the character that you’ve been trying to play.” Jim Carrey

“Listen to the people who love you. Believe that they are worth living for even when you don’t believe it. Seek out the memories depression takes away and project them into the future. ” Andrew Solomon

“My brain and my heart are really important to me. I don’t know why I wouldn’t seek help to have those things be as healthy as my teeth. I go to the dentist. So why wouldn’t I go to a shrink?” Kerry Washington

“I tend to get pretty depressed and I have some issues with anxiety and things like that … For me, it’s more psychological. Exercise is a means of expelling those demons.” Ryan Reynolds