99 Inspiring Recovery Quotes

In the journey of recovery, words hold incredible power to uplift, motivate, and inspire. Whether you're overcoming addiction, illness, or personal challenges, finding solace in the wisdom and experiences of others can be a vital source of strength. Our curated collection of the top 99 inspiring recovery quotes is designed to provide encouragement and perspective, helping to illuminate your path to healing and renewal. Each quote serves as a reminder that recovery is not just about the destination, but also about appreciating the progress and perseverance that guide you along the way. Join us as we explore these profound words, offering comfort and insight to support your transformative journey.

1. “I think that little by little I'll be able to solve my problems and survive.” - Frida Kahlo

2. “You were sick, but now you're well again, and there's work to do.” - Kurt Vonnegut

3. “In truth, Serenus, I have for a long time been silently asking myself to what I should liken such a condition of mind, and I can find nothing that so closely approaches it as the state of those who, after being released from a long and serious illness, are sometimes touched with fits of fever and slight disorders, and, freed from the last traces of them, are nevertheless disquieted with mistrust, and, though now quite well, stretch out their wrist to a physician and complain unjustly of any trace of heat in their body. It is not, Serenus, that these are not quite well in body, but that they are not quite used to being well; just as even a tranquil sea will show some ripple, particularly when it has just subsided after a storm. What you need, therefore, is not any of those harsher measures which we have already left behind, the necessity of opposing yourself at this point, of being angry with yourself at that, of sternly urging yourself on at another, but that which comes last -confidence in yourself and the belief that you are on the right path, and have not been led astray by the many cross- tracks of those who are roaming in every direction, some of whom are wandering very near the path itself. But what you desire is something great and supreme and very near to being a god - to be unshaken. ” - seneca

4. “The question is not how to get cured, but how to live.” - Joseph Conrad

5. “Scars are not injuries, Tanner Sack. A scar is a healing. After injury, a scar is what makes you whole.” - China Miéville

6. “You will lose someone you can’t live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.” - Anne Lamott

7. “Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed down-stairs one step at a time.” - Mark Twain

8. “it's not how far you fall, but how high you bounce that counts.” - Zig Ziglar

9. “All humans at some time experience injustice, assault, disqualification, invasion and betrayal. No person is completely shielded. We need not trace our family trees very far back or study for long what life was like for our forbears to uncover humanity's abusiveness. The inherited scars of our multigenerational families exist in our family systems as we know them today. The abuse of the past often exists as the shame of today, and the shame is perpetuated through our patterns of interaction.” - Merle A. Fossum

10. “You can get the monkey off your back, but the circus never leaves town” - Anne Lamott

11. “Everything is, the way it is, for a reason. Or it isn't. Or neither. Or both. It's so hard to tell. It's so hard to tell you're a mile away by the Luke in your eye.” - Alistair McHarg

12. “A fine glass vase goes from treasure to trash, the moment it is broken. Fortunately, something else happens to you and me. Pick up your pieces. Then, help me gather mine.” - Vera Nazarian

13. “Whether I or anyone else accepted the concept of alcoholism as a disease didn't matter; what mattered was that when treated as a disease, those who suffered from it were most likely to recover.” - Craig Ferguson

14. “I found the prospect daunting, but somehow comforting, too, because the counselors insisted it could be done, and, after all, many of them were recovering alcoholics themselves.” - Craig Ferguson

15. “The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creatures that cannot.” - Mark Twain

16. “You were born a child of light’s wonderful secret— you return to the beauty you have always been.” - Aberjhani

17. “Another page turns on the calendar, April now, not March..........I am spinning the silk threads of my story, weaving the fabric of my world...I spun out of control. Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living was hardest.I wanted to swallow the bitter seeds of forgetfulness...Somehow, I dragged myself out of the dark and asked for help.I spin and weave and knit my words and visions until a life starts to take shape.There is no magic cure, no making it all go away forever. There are only small steps upward; an easier day, an unexpected laugh, a mirror that doesn't matter anymore.I am thawing.” - Laurie Halse Anderson

18. “A single day is enough to make us a little larger or, another time, a little smaller.” - Paul Klee

19. “I know now that we never get over great losses; we absorb them, and they carve us into different, often kinder, creatures.” - Gail Caldwell

20. “Hope in the beginning feels like such a violation of the loss, and yet without it we couldn't survive.” - Gail Caldwell

21. “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” - Oprah Winfrey

22. “I swear, with Chloe Bear once again as my witness...That my problems and failures will not stop me, nor will they dictate who I am.That I will continue to be my own person.That life is too short, and I will live every day as the best person I can be.That I will grow and that I will change.That I will smile and hold my head high.That this is a new start and a new day.That I will allow myself to cry or sit by myself when I need to.That I will find things to really smile about.” - Stephen Emond

23. “Love taught me to die with dignity that I might come forth anew in splendor. Born once of flesh, then again of fire, I was reborn a third time to the sound of my name humming haikus in heaven’s mouth.” - Aberjhani

24. “I believe in recovery, and as a role model I have the responsibility to let young people know that you can make a mistake and come back from it.” - Ann Richards

25. “We must be content to grow slowly. Most of us will still barely be at the beginning of our recovery by the time we die. But that is better than killing ourselves pretending to be healthy.” - Simon Tugwell

26. “If you desire healing,let yourself fall illlet yourself fall ill.” - Rumi

27. “First Embody the Emptiness of SilenceNext Embody the Fullness of Honesty & LoveThus Be HeavenSage Hope (Omid Mankoo) SH...” - Omid Mankoo

28. “One day at a time, sweet Jesus. Whoever wrote that one hadn’t a clue. A day is a fuckin’ eternity” - Roddy Doyle

29. “Recovery feels like shit. It didn't feel like I was doing something good; it felt like I was giving up. It feels like having to learn how to walk all over again.” - Portia De Rossi

30. “I am a work in progress.” - Violet Yates

31. “A lot of people who find out about the things I do immediately figure I'm just a pathetic "druggie" with nothing to say that is worth hearing. They talk endless bull shit of "recovery!" They make it sound like some amazing discovery...don't they know I'm far too busy trying to recover me?” - Ashly Lorenzana

32. “He still heard his mother's voice--"Davey"--rise like whisper-dust from unseen corners in the house, but it was no longer the only voice he heard. His ears were also filled with the voices of others--his father and Primrose and Refrigerator John and his grandmother. Of course, all of their words for a thousand years could not fill the hole left by his mother, but they could raise a loving fence around it so he didn't keep falling in.” - Jerry Spinelli

33. “Listen to God with a broken heart. He is not only the doctor who mends it, but also the father who wipes away the tears.” - Criss Jami

34. “It is not true that everyone is special. It is true that everyone was once special and still possesses the ability to recover it.” - Criss Jami

35. “The power of hope! Even a lack of ambition can, for a time, pay off as a necessary facet, as long as hope outweighs it.” - Criss Jami

36. “A lot of things are inherent in life -change, birth, death, aging, illness, accidents, calamities, and losses of all kinds- but these events don't have to be the cause of ongoing suffering. Yes, these events cause grief and sadness, but grief and sadness pass, like everything else, and are replaced with other experiences. The ego, however, clings to negative thoughts and feelings and, as a result, magnifies, intensifies, and sustains those emotions while the ego overlooks the subtle feelings of joy, gratitude, excitement, adventure, love, and peace that come from Essence. If we dwelt on these positive states as much as we generally dwell on our negative thoughts and painful emotions, our lives would be transformed.” - Gina Lake

37. “Public truth telling is a form of recovery, especially when combined with social action. Sharing traumatic experiences with others enables victims to reconstruct repressed memory, mourn loss, and master helplessness, which is trauma's essential insult. And, by facilitating reconnection to ordinary life, the public testimony helps survivors restore basic trust in a just world and overcome feelings of isolation. But the talking cure is predicated on the existence of a community willing to bear witness. 'Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships,' write Judith Herman. 'It cannot occur in isolation.” - Lawrence N. Powell

38. “Oh what a wonderful soul so bright inside you. Got power to heal the sun’s broken heart, power to restore the moon’s vision too.” - Aberjhani

39. “Given love and opportunity, every child and adult can recover. All who know this and have the capacity to help others should assist as they can.” - Dallin H. Oaks

40. “A bridge of silver wings stretches from the dead ashes of an unforgiving nightmareto the jeweled vision of a life started anew.” - Aberjhani

41. “We can be redeemed only to the extent to which we see ourselves.” - Martin Buber

42. “We take action when we have the honesty to admit that things are still broken, despite our best efforts otherwise. We take action when we hold ourselves continually open to new techniques, remaining resolutely receptive to new sources of support and new feeds of information. We take action when we are willing, in each new moment, to try again.” - Shannon Cutts

43. “Real hope combined with real action has always pulled me through difficult times. Real hope combined with doing nothing has never pulled me through.” - Jenni Schaefer

44. “We've been there and come back. When you fall in the pit, people are supposed to help you up. But you have to get up on your own. We'll take your arms, but you have to get your legs underneath you and stand.” - Bucky Sinister

45. “Just as others pray daily, you should think to yourself daily about what you can do to be closer to this Ideal Image. Think: "What can I do today to make my life better?" "What can I do to become more like my Ideal Image?” - Bucky Sinister

46. “They got drunk and high on a regular basis, but this is a vestige of youth that you either quit while you're young or you become an addict if you don't die. If you are the Old Guy In The Punk House, move out. You have a substance abuse problem.” - Bucky Sinister

47. “Your best days are ahead of you. The movie starts when the guy gets sober and puts his life back together; it doesn't end there.” - Bucky Sinister

48. “The good news, however, is that, also contrary to popular belief, full and lasting recovery from an eating disorder is possible.” - Lynn Crilly

49. “Guilt is a destructive and ultimately pointless emotion” - Lynn Crilly

50. “I am evolving from being an animal,' he said. 'But it is going very, very slowly. Sometime I try to cry and laugh like other people, just to see if it feels like anything. Yet tears don't come. Laughter doesn't come.” - Blaine Harden

51. “Childhood trauma does not come in one single package.” - Asa Don Brown

52. “Resiliency is not gender-, age-, or intellectually specific...” - Asa Don Brown

53. “Trauma does not have to occur by abuse alone...” - Asa Don Brown

54. “Resiliency is the essence of a global positive framework...” - Asa Don Brown

55. “Everywhere we shine death and life burn into something new…” - Aberjhani

56. “Un-winged and naked, sorrow surrenders its crown to a throne called grace.” - Aberjhani

57. “One of the most dangerous myths surrounding eating disorders is that they are a life sentence.” - Lynn Crilly

58. “Anorexia cannot be cured by treating the physical symptoms alone; it is the mind which must be treated.” - Lynn Crilly

59. “The test we must set for ourselves is not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us.” - Hubert Humphrey

60. “I felt empty and sad for years, and for a long, long time, alcohol worked. I’d drink, and all the sadness would go away. Not only did the sadness go away, but I was fantastic. I was beautiful, funny, I had a great figure, and I could do math. But at some point, the booze stopped working. That’s when drinking started sucking. Every time I drank, I could feel pieces of me leaving. I continued to drink until there was nothing left. Just emptiness.” - Dina Kucera

61. “History dressed up in the glow of love’s kiss turned grief into beauty.” - Aberjhani

62. “Gratitude isn't a tool to manipulate the universe or God. It's a way to acknowledge our faith that everything happens for a reason even if we don't know what that reason is. ~Melody Beattie, 52 Weeks of Conscious Contact, pg. 34.” - Melody Beattie

63. “Like Sylvia Plath, Natalie Jeanne Champagne invites you so close to the pain and agony of her life of mental illness and addiction, which leaves you gasping from shock and laughing moments later: this is both the beauty and unique nature of her storytelling. With brilliance and courage, the author's brave and candid chronicle travels where no other memoir about mental illness and addiction has gone before. The Third Sunrise is an incredible triumph and Natalie Jeanne Champagne is without a doubt the most important new voice in this genre.” - Andy Behrman

64. “An intensely gripping narrative...expertly crafted and totally addictive...a must read!” - Maggie Reese

65. “And the way you lost your temper!" went on Wallis enthusiastically. "Oh, Mr. Allan, it was beautiful! You haven't been more than to say snarly since the accident! It was so like the way you used to throw hair-brushes--” - Margaret Widdemer

66. “My brother trolled recovery and support groups, searching for women with dependency issues, the way I frequented bookstores with the hope of finding a well-adjusted, intelligent woman. Between us, his record was more stellar, his sin more reprehensible; though, knowing my brother, he slept soundly through the night without ever experiencing the slightest remorse.” - Richard J. O'Brien

67. “This rose of pearl-coated infinity transformsthe diseased slums of a broken heartinto a palace made of psalms and gold.” - Aberjhani

68. “This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us . . . to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves, to act in such a way that some part of us lives on. This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us . . . to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves, to act in such a way that some part of us lives on.” - Oswald Spengler

69. “But it is hazardous and, I believe, counterproductive to become frozen in time by an obsession with past wrongs and errors.” - George McGovern

70. “Alcoholism or addiction is a disease because it fits the definition of disease. It is progressive and chronic, and left untreated, it will kill.” - Irene Tomkinson

71. “Somewhere in the distance I hear the bucket clatter to the floor. I plunge the knife into his head, again and again. His arms lash out blindly, getting in the way. Blood mixes with water cascading to the floor. Meathead staggers to his feet, pulling off his shirt, trying to peel away the agony, but his skin comes away with it, leaving a raw, red mess. There’s a shrill alarm and the sound of pounding feet. I hurl the knife through the bars at the window. A blur of dark faces converge in my vision, fists and feet, punching and kicking. Meathead’s mates are yanking me off, trying to hurt me. Screws come rushing and soon they’re everywhere as I’m half-carried, half-dragged along the corridor. ‘Blimey,’ a thought comes from somewhere in all the chaos, ‘I’ve only been out a day and already I’m heading straight back down the chokey!’ The last thing I see, as a screaming Meathead is hurried to the hospital, is my cellmate in the middle of the crowd peering worriedly after me. Course he’s worried! The stinky bastard is wondering where his next bit of scag is coming from!” - Harry Shaw

72. “Searching for a mind long lost I found it shaping colors and history near the cliffs of your heart.” - Aberjhani

73. “Issues are like tissues. You pull one out and another appears!” - Gary Goldstein

74. “Hope drowned in shadowsemerges fiercely splendid––boldly angelic.” - Aberjhani

75. “When the sum of our faith and humility is sufficient, it reaches a type of spiritual critical mass and hope is fostered and grows. A willing heart emerges which generates the ability for us to submit to the process of recovery.” - Roger Stark

76. “The winds of tribulation blow out some men's candles of commitment.(Maxwell) Our job in recovery is to protect our candle from those winds.” - Roger Stark

77. “Compulsive behavior occurs when the urge to act out is greater than our will to say no. Recovery then, is the process of reversing that equation.” - Roger Stark

78. “Every great tragedy forms a fertile soil in which a great recovery can take root and blossom...but only if you plant the seeds.” - Steve Maraboli

79. “We judge ourselves by our intentions; the world judges us by our actions” - J.dean

80. “Then the long nights, that were also days, in the hospital. And the long blanks, that were also nights. Needles, and angled glass rods to suck water through. Needles, and curious enamel wedges slid under your middle. Needles, and - needles and needles and needles. Like swarms of persistent mosquitoes with unbreakable drills. The way a pincushion feels, if it could feel. Or the target of a porcupine. Or a case of not just momentary but permanently endured static electricity after you scuff across a woolen rug and then put your finger on a light switch. Even food was a needle - a jab into a vein...("For The Rest Of Her Life")” - Cornell Woolrich

81. “Waiting to be 'better' is the wrong approach. It's learning to live with it.” - Marian Keyes

82. “I almost wish I had cancer. Then I’d either beat it or die from it. But my disease, even if successfully treated, will never go away. And it might not kill me. But it will hang over me like the blade of a guillotine; more threatening inert than if the blade suddenly slips and mercifully turns out my lights. This is my war to end all wars.” - William Cope Moyers

83. “What was so painful about Amy’s death is that I know that there is something I could have done. I could have passed on to her the solution that was freely given to me. Don’t pick up a drink or drug, one day at a time. It sounds so simple; it actually is simple but it isn’t easy; it requires incredible support and fastidious structuring.” - Russell Brand

84. “The mentality and behavior of drug addicts and alcoholics is wholly irrational until you understand that they are completely powerless over their addiction and unless they have structured help, they have no hope.” - Russell Brand

85. “…is methodical abuse, often using indoctrination, aimed at breaking the will of another human being. In a 1989 report, the Ritual Abuse Task Force of the L.A. County Commission for Women defined ritual abuse as: “Ritual Abuse usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual abuse is usually painful,humiliating, intended as a means of gaining dominance over the victim.The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual indoctrination. It includes mind control techniques which convey to the victim a profound terror of the cult members …most victims are in a state of terror, mind control and dissociation” (Pg. 35-36)” - Chrystine Oksana

86. “Those who support such survivors of abuse often find it difficult to hear the reality of those survivors' lives and experience and are often unsupported themselves. Rather than being supported, workers are often ridiculed, castigated or accused of being gullible or of giving the survivor false memories. Many workers work in isolation and a climate of hostility and are unable to talk about the work they do.Yes, despite all the odds, survivors of ritual abuse are beginning to speak out about their experiences, and some people, mainly in voluntary organisations, are beginning to listen to them and support them.[Published 2001]” - Laurie Matthew

87. “Some abusers organise themselves in groups to abuse children and other adults in a more formally ritualised way. Men and women in these groups can be abusers with both sexes involved in all aspects of the abuse. Children are often forced to abuse other children. Pornography and prostitution are sometimes part of the abuse as is the use of drugs, hypnotism and mind control. Some groups use complex rituals to terrify, silence and convince victims of the tremendous power of the abusers. the purpose is to gain and maintain power over the child in order to exploit. Some groups are so highly organised that they also have links internationally through trade in child-pornography, drugs and arms.Some abusers organise themselves around a religion or faith and the teaching and training of the children within this faith, often takes the form of severe and sustained torture and abuse. Whether or not the adults within this type of group believe that what they are doing is, in some way 'right' is immaterial to the child on the receiving end of the 'teachings' and abuse.” - Laurie Matthew

88. “In a nutshell, the process they [abusers in a ritual abuse group] use on survivors is designed to:break the will and personality of the person until they become as nothing... with no will of their own...no identity...then they... rebuild the person & shape their will in order to...try and make the person one of them...thus gaining powerIf abusers hold all the power, becoming one of them can, for some, be the only means of survival. However, this doesn't always work, instead survivors often find ways of regaining their own power and fighting back.” - Laurie Matthew

89. “Political prisoners describe:- extreme physical and emotional torture- distortion of language, truth, meaning and reality- sham killings- begin repeatedly taken to the point of death or threatened with death- being forced to witness abusive acts on others- being forced to make impossible "choices"- boundaries smashed i.e. by the use of forced nakedness, shame, embarrassment- hoaxes, 'set ups', testing and tricks- being forced to hurt othersRitual abuse survivors often describe much the same things.” - Laurie Matthew

90. “In some counties, there is an actual named crime of ritual abuse and there too, there have been convictions.” - Laurie Matthew

91. “Stop validating your victim mentality. Shake off your self-defeating drama and embrace your innate ability to recover and achieve.” - Steve Maraboli

92. “Do not wait and hope to be discovered...make yourself so you cannot be denied!” - Jamie McCall

93. “You don't have to make it big, but you do have to make a big impact.” - Jamie McCall

94. “Why couldn’t I find one action that would make the need to binge automatically disappear? Because there is no magic action to make that horrible prebinge feeling go away. The cool thing is that we are designed so that the feeling will pass through us on its own—in time. All we have to do is sit there and feel what is going on inside of us. We must experience the feelings. To help us deal with the feelings, we can call someone on our support team. We can also express the feelings by focusing on our breath or even hitting a pillow. The important thing to remember is that no matter how terrible, feelings do pass. It takes patience and trust—not food . . .” - Jenni Schaefer

95. “To stay in recovery, you must be responsible for finding your own motivation. Remember, motivation may not be easy to come by at first. It will probably be a very small, timid part inside of you. When you find it, let that part be in charge. Let the minority rule and lead you to a life you never dreamed was possible” - Jenni Schaefer

96. “I wrote in my journal about how good I felt when I was not living under Ed’s control. Then, when I really felt like giving up, I read these pages and realized that I was striving for in recovery was a real possibility. I thought about these experiences and used them as encouragement to keep moving forward. Even one minute of freedom was proof that I was getting better. At first, these times were few and far between. Now, these moments are connected; they are my life” - Jenni Schaefer

97. “Just because you may live your life in recovery, surely doesn't mean the PARTY IS OVER, Nope!, it just means you can remember what you DID LAST NIGHT!".LOL” - Catherine Townsend-Lyon

98. “Why do prostitutes when they get straight always try and get so prim? It's like long-repressed librarian-ambitions come flooding out.” - David Foster Wallace

99. “Gately can't even imagine what it would be like to be a sober and drug-free biker. It's like what would be the point. He imagines these people polishing the hell out of their leather and like playing a lot of really precise pool.” - David Foster Wallace