20 Uplifting Quotes for People Living With a Chronic Illness

Have you ever heard any quotes that helped shift your perspective for the rest of the day? Those type of quotes can help fuel our soul and spirit to get through the most challenging of days.

Living a chronic illness, such as pulmonary hypertension, can often feel like a roller coaster — full of ups and downs. It’s extremely challenging to maintain a sunny disposition while being chronically ill, despite our best efforts. Sometimes a powerful quote can help reignite your fight, joy or inspiration.

Here are 20 quotes to help pick you up when you need a little inspiration and hope. Write one down and carry it with you. Place it somewhere where you will look often, like the bathroom mirror where you brush your teeth or on a Post-it note stuck to the bottom of your computer screen.

1. “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
― Winston Churchill

2. “Only in the darkness can you see the stars.”
― Martin Luther King Jr

3. “When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you
think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope.”
― Pittacus Lore, “I Am Number Four”

4. “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.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh

5. “A woman is like a tea bag: You never know how strong it is until it’s in hot water.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt

6. “There is an alchemy in sorrow. It can be transmuted into wisdom, which, if it does not bring joy, can yet bring happiness.”
― Pearl S. Buck

7. “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
― Buddha

8. “If you wouldst live long, live well; for folly and wickedness shorten life.”
― Benjamin Franklin

9. “The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
― Sydney J. Harris

10. “A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, “The Sirens of Titan”

11. “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.”
― Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist”

12. “Time is priceless, but it’s free. You can’t own it, you can use it. You can spend it. But you can’t keep it. Once you’ve lost it you can
never get it back.”
― Audrey Niffenegger, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”

13. “Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
― Francis of Assisi

14. “It is not length of life, but depth of life that matters.“
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

15. “Courage is grace under pressure.”
― Ernest Hemingway

16. “People ask me if I live each day like it’s my last, and I don’t.
I live each day like it’s my first, and I can’t wait for the next one.”
― Kris Carr

17. “Healing takes courage, and we all have courage, even if we have to dig a little to find it.”
― Tori Amos

18. “Healing yourself is connected with healing others.”
― Yoko Ono

19. “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
― Jalaluddin Rumi

20. “The most important thing is to enjoy your life ― to be happy ― it’s all that matters.”
― Audrey Hepburn

A version of this post originally appeared on Pulmonary Hypertension News.

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