Thought Catalog

24 Ruthless Breakup Quotes That Will Kick Your Sad Ass Into Moving On

Because we all need to hear those harsh truths sometimes. 
Heidi Priebe
July 8, 2016
“If pain must come, may it come quickly. Because I have a life to live, and I need to live it in the best way possible. ”
— Paulo Coelho, By The River Pedra I Sat Down And Wept
Tagged: Pain, Loss, Longing, Love, Grief, Grieving, Death, Breakups, Moving On
“The person you loved took a good long look at the awesomeness that is you, evaluated your relationship together, and said, “No, thanks. I’ll try my luck elsewhere.” That alone should make you realize that it wasn’t a match made in heaven.”
— Greg Behrendt, It's Called A Breakup Because It's Broken
Tagged: Breakups, Relationships, Change, Moving On, Closure
“Many of us find ourselves saying “BUT HE WAS SO GREAT!” Yes, and the people who got on the Titanic thought they were going on vacation. Things changed and it’s important to remember that they did.”
— Greg Behrendt, It's Called A Breakup Because It's Broken
Tagged: Breakups, Denial, Facing Reality, Moving On, Closure, Change
“You can drive yourself crazy, or you can get over it. The choice is yours.”
— Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Tagged: Obsessing, Reality, Getting Over it, Moving On, Acceptance
“Your soul has fallen to bits and pieces. Good. Rearrange them to suit yourself.”
— Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf
Tagged: Pain, Heartache, Sadness, Starting Over, Moving On
“Getting over it doesn't mean forgetting it, it just means reducing the pain to a tolerable level, a level that doesn't destroy you.”
— Kevin Brooks, Lucas
Tagged: Moving On, Getting Over it, Change, Accepting Change, Breakups, Pain
“This is how bad stories end. But it's also how the best stories begin.”
— Iain Thomas, I Wrote This For You
Tagged: Endings, Beginnings, Pain, Starting Over, Letting Go, Moving On, Moving Forward
“There's no such thing as a completely fresh start. Everything new arrives on the heels of something old, and every new beginning comes at the cost of an ending. ”
— Jennifer E. Smith, The Geography of You and Me
Tagged: Starting Over, Moving On, New, Old, Beginnings, Endings
“Go, even though you love him.
Go, even though he is kind and faithful and dear to you.
Go, even though he's your best friend and you're his.
Go, even though you can't imagine your life without him.
Go, even though he adores you and your leaving will devastate him.
Go, even though your friends will be disappointed or surprised or pissed off or all three.
Go, even though you once said you would stay.
Go, even though you're afraid of being alone.
Go, even though you're sure no one will ever love you as well as he does.
Go, even though there is nowhere to go.
Go, even though you don't know exactly why you can't stay.
Go, because you want to.
Because wanting to leave is enough.”
— Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Tagged: Love, Relationships, Leaving, Breakups, Letting Go
“It is impossible for you to go on as you were before, so you must go on as you never have.”
— Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
Tagged: Moving On, strength, Starting Over, Trauma, Grief
“You can either experience pain willingly or unwillingly, and pain that’s embraced by choice is much easier to tolerate than pain that must be endured by consequence.”
— Derek Doepker, Break Through Your BS: Uncover Your Brain's Blind Spots and Unleash Your Inner Greatness
Tagged: Pain, Embracing Pain, Suffering, Grief, Breakups, Moving On
“The way to not give a shit about something is to give way more of a shit about something else.”
— Derek Doepker, Break Through Your BS: Uncover Your Brain's Blind Spots and Unleash Your Inner Greatness
Tagged: Passion, Lust, Moving On, Desire, Wanting Someone You Can't Have
“Sometimes people let the same problem make them miserable for years when they could just say, 'So what'. That's one of my favorite things to say. So what.”
— Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (From A to B and Back Again)
Tagged: Problems, emotions, Failure, Moving On, Letting Go, Moving Forward, Change, Making Change
“Why don’t you just pretend that the asshole dropped dead? You can’t call or write to a dead man. Put a couple of candles in front of his picture, say a few Hail Marys, and get it over with.”
— Isabel Lopez, Isabel's Hand-Me-Down Dreams
Tagged: Love, Breakups, Heartbreak, strength, Relationships
“To be rejected by someone doesn’t mean you should also reject yourself or that you should think of yourself as a lesser person. It doesn’t mean that nobody will ever love you anymore. Remember that only ONE person has rejected you at the moment, and it only hurt so much because to you, that person’s opinion symbolized the opinion of the whole world, of God.”
— Jocelyn Soriano, Mend My Broken Heart
Tagged: Love, Breakups, Heartbreak, strength, Relationships
“If you have to speculate if someone loves you and wants to be with you, chances are they don’t. It’s not that complicated. Love, in most cases, betrays the one feeling it. Don’t waste moments waiting and wondering. Don’t throw away your time dreaming of someone that doesn’t want you. No one is that amazing, certainly not the one who would pass you up.”
— Donna Lynn Hope
Tagged: Love, Breakups, Heartbreak, strength, Relationships
“If you don’t like being a doormat, then get the f**k off the floor.”
— Kelly Elliott, Wanted
Tagged: Love, Breakups, Heartbreak, strength, Relationships
“If someone doesn’t care about losing you: Move on. There are thousands of people that will die and kill to not lose you.”
— Unknown
Tagged: Love, Breakups, Heartbreak, strength, Relationships
“Alone also means available for someone outstanding.”
— Greg Behrendt, It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy
Tagged: Being Single, Single, Breakups, Relationships
“It's an odd thing to think about, but try imagining that your breakup is a disease. If you were told that you had a serious yet curable disease, would you go get hammered on a regular basis? Eat two bags of Oreos? Chain-smoke, pop, pills, get stoned, or fuck around? NO YOU WOULDN'T. You would take great care of yourself and cut all the unhealthy things out of your life. Because you love yourself, and even if you don't right now, WE DO. So put the (insert vice here) down and start moving on.”
— Greg Behrendt, It's Called a Breakup Because It's Broken: The Smart Girl's Break-Up Buddy
Tagged: Breakups, Self-Care, Health
“Don’t be flattered that he misses you. He should miss you. You are deeply missable. However, the only reason he can miss you is because he’s choosing, every day, not to be with you.”
— Greg Behrendt, He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
Tagged: Breakups, Dating, Missing Someone, Moving On
“What I can do is paint you a picture of what you’ll never see when you’re with a guy who’s really into you: You’ll never see you staring maniacally at your phone, willing it to ring. You’ll never see you ruining an evening with friends because you’re calling for your messages every fifteen seconds. You’ll never see you hating yourself for calling him when you know you shouldn’t have. What you will see is you being treated so well that no phone antics will be necessary. You’ll be too busy being adored.”
— Greg Behrendt, He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
Tagged: Breakups, Relationships, Dating, Love, Insecurity
“You already have one asshole, you don't need another one.”
— Greg Behrendt, He's Just Not That Into You: The No-Excuses Truth to Understanding Guys
Tagged: Love, Assholes, Breakups, Relationships, Dating, Breaking Up
“You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It won't happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, ‘I don’t care how hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.”
— Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential
Tagged: Moving On, Moving Forward, Breakups