If you often find yourself asking “why do I keep overthinking everything?” you’re not alone.
Being a regular overthinker, you might feel as though you are the only one who suffers from ruminating thoughts, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Certain studies suggest that up to 73% of people between the ages of 25 and 35 chronically overthink.[1]
This article contains quotes aimed to shed light on overthinking, how normal it is, and the sadness it can cause in our lives.
Hopefully, these quotes can help you to get out of your head, and stop worrying once and for all.
Sections
Quotes to help you stop overthinking
The following quotes are aimed to help you stop overthinking. If you are an overthinker it’s very possible that your mind plays tricks on you, telling yourself “I will always be like this” and “why can’t I shut my mind off?”. These comforting words might help to empower you against your ruminating tendencies.
1. “Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.” —Benjamin Franklin
 
2. “Put your thoughts to sleep. Do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking.” —Rumi
 
3. “Sometimes you gotta stop worrying, wondering and doubting. Have faith that things will work out. Maybe not as you planned, but how they were meant to be.” —Unknown
4. “Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” —Robert Eliot
 
5. “If you’re obsessing over something you don’t like about yourself that you either can’t change or have no intention of improving, it’s not self-reflection — it’s overthinking.” —Katie McCallum, When Overthinking Becomes a Problem…, Houston Methodist
 
6. “Don’t believe everything you think.” —Unknown
7. “You don’t have to take every alarming thought that pops into your head as truth.” —Mara Santilli, What Causes Overthinking, Forbes
 
8. “The more I think about it, the more I realize that overthinking isn’t the real problem. The real problem is that we don’t trust.” —L.J. Vanier
 
9. “Of the thousands of decisions you make every day, the majority are simply not worth draining your brain power over.” —Katie McCallum, When Overthinking Becomes a Problem…, Houston Methodist
10. “I made peace with my overthinking and suddenly forgot how to do it.” —Unknown
 
11. “When you don’t overthink, you become more efficient, more peaceful and more happy.” —Remez Sasson, What is Overthinking and How to Overcome it, SuccessConsciousness
 
12. “Stop worrying about what can go wrong, and get excited about what can go right.” —Dr. Alexis Carrel
13. “Don’t be afraid to trust your gut to help you make a final decision.” —Katie McCallum, When Overthinking Becomes a Problem…, Houston Methodist
 
14. “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” —Napoleon Bonaparte
 
15. “Our life is what our thoughts make it.” —Marcus Arelius
16. “Take action on the things you can control and let go of the things you can’t.” —Katie McCallum, When Overthinking Becomes a Problem…, Houston Methodist
 
17. “At any given point in life, it is possible to direct our thoughts in such a way that changes our perception of the same set of circumstances from bright and sunny to dark and stormy.” —Are You Overthinking Everything?, PsychAlive
 
18. “Stop overthinking. Put more energy on what you really want to do.” —Amit Ray
19. “Mastery is the opposite of passivity and, as it grows, turns long-suffering rumination into confident action.” —Ellen Hendriksen, Toxic Habits: Overthinking, ScientificAmerican
 
20. “It’s time to just be happy. Being angry, sad and overthinking isn’t worth it any more. Just let things flow. Be positive.” —Unknown
 
21. “On the whole, I love being an overthinker, it’s enormously enriching.” —Annalisa Barbieri, Why I’m Glad That I’m an ‘Overthinker’, The Guardian
22. “Don’t get too deep, it leads to over thinking, and overthinking leads to problems that didn’t even exist in the first place.” —Jayson Engay
 
23. “The hallmark of overthinking is that it is unproductive.” —Stephanie Anderson Whitmer, What is Overthinking…, GoodRxHealth
 
24. “Let go of all your thoughts about yesterday and tomorrow. No matter how much you want to achieve in the future, and no matter how much you’ve suffered in the past — appreciate that you are alive: NOW.” —Darius Foroux, Medium
25. “The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity — the thinker.” —Eckart Tolle
 
26. “The truth is that when you overuse your brain, just like a drain, it can get clogged. The result? Foggy thinking. Which leads to bad decision making.” —Darius Foroux, Medium
 
27. “More thinking is needed, you feel, when actually what you need to do is step back and stop.” —Annalisa Barbieri, The Guardian
28. “Everyone does stupid things they regret. I, for one, do them daily. So stop your downward spiral by heaving a big sigh and saying ‘OK, that happened.’ And then move on.” —Ellen Hendriksen, Toxic Habits: Overthinking, ScientificAmerican
 
29. “If you notice that you are on edge, take a step back and ask yourself what you can do for yourself to relax.” —Are You Overthinking it?, Debra N. Brocius
 
30. “To change any habit, we need the right motivation.” —Sarah Sperber, The Berkeley Well-Being Institute
31. “For the overthinkers out there, mindfulness can be a life-saver.” —Are You Overthinking Everything?, PsychAlive
Quotes about overthinking your relationship
Overthinking in your relationship is completely normal. Love can leave us feeling vulnerable to heartbreak. If you are prone to overthinking in your relationship worry quotes like these can help you feel like you aren’t alone in your relationship anxiety. Never forget how deserving of love you really are.
1. “Don’t overthink things. Sometimes you can convince your head not to listen to your heart. Those are the decisions you regret for the rest of your life.” —Leah Braemel
 
2. “I hadn’t heard from him in four days, and my mind was at war with itself.” —Chris Rackliffe, 9 Ways to Ease Anxiety When Dating, Crackliffe
 
3. “Today I read that said ‘someone that overthinks is also someone who overloves’ and I felt that.” —Unknown
4. “They put their relationships on a pedestal, but then drag them down to join the wallowing.” —Ellen Hendriksen, Toxic Habits: Overthinking, ScientificAmerican
 
5. “Don’t tell her to stop overthinking. Just communicate better.” —Unknown
 
6. “Overthinking ruins friendships and relationships. Overthinking creates problems you never had. Don’t overthink, just overflow with good vibes.” —Unknown
7. “An overthinking girl needs to date an understanding guy. That’s it.” —Unknown
 
8. “Do you wonder day in and day out whether you are in the right relationship?” —Sarah Sperber, The Berkeley Well-Being Institute
 
9. “I am constantly overthinking everything in my relationship. My boyfriend is so loyal, I need to stop digging for things that don’t exist.” —Unknown
10. “Why is she so distant today? I must have said something stupid. She’s losing interest. She probably likes someone else.” —Are You Overthinking Everything?, PsychAlive
 
11. “Stop overthinking. Whatever happens, happens.” —Unknown
 
12. “If you are an overthinker, try not to spend too much time with underthinkers, as you will end up thinking not just for yourself, but for them, too.” —Annalisa Barbieri, The Guardian
13. “Ironically, individuals who ruminate really value their relationships—romantic, family, friends—to the point that they’ll sacrifice greatly to salvage one. But they often don’t see that they contribute to stress in the relationship by overthinking both real and imaginary problems.” —Ellen Hendriksen, Toxic Habits: Overthinking, ScientificAmerican
Quotes to calm your mind
Having people tell you to ‘keep calm’ and ‘just relax’ when you’re overthinking can be frustrating. As annoying as it might be, they are onto something. There are valuable tools for you to use to calm your mind, such as meditation, deep breathing, and reading quotes like these.
1. “Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax.” —Bryant McGill
 
2. “The mind is like water. When it’s turbulent it’s difficult to see. When it’s calm everything becomes clear.” —Prasad Mahes
 
3. “Breathe in deeply to bring your mind home to your body.” —Thich Nhat Hanh
4. “A fit body, a calm mind, a house full of love. These things cannot be bought – they must be earned.” —Naval Ravikant
 
5. “98% of your problems would be solved if you stopped overthinking things. So take a deep breath and calm down.” —Unknown
 
6. “Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and start to organize your life around it.” —Brian Tracey
7. “Calm your mind. Life becomes easier when you keep your mind at peace.” —Unknown
 
8. “Relax, take a care break. Calm your mind and things will begin to work themselves out.” —Unknown
 
9. “If you consistently focus on ruminating and make it a habit, it becomes a loop. And the more you do it, the harder it is to stop.” —Thomas Oppong
10. “I thought too much, lived too much in the mind. It was hard to make decisions.” —Donna Tartt
 
11. “When you stop overthinking, you free yourself from worries, anxieties and stress, and enjoy inner peace.” —Unknown
 
12. “Stress makes us narrowly focused, preventing us from seeing the bigger picture. When we’re calmer, our attention becomes broader.” —Emma Seppala, Four Ways to Calm Your Mind in Stressful Times, GreaterGoodBerkeley
Quotes about overthinking late at night
We all know how overwhelming it feels to be in bed worrying about life. The next time you’re lying awake, try doing something like meditating to help clear your mind. Writing down a few of these short quotes to read when you’re stuck awake can also help. They’re a good reminder that you’re not the only one who can’t sleep.
1. “If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.” —Dale Carnegie
 
2. “RIP to all the hours of sleep I have lost overthinking.” —Unknown
 
3. “I find the nights long, for I sleep but little, and think much.” —Charles Dickens
4. “My nights are for overthinking. My mornings are for oversleeping.” —Unknown
 
5. “You stare at your bedroom ceiling, willing yourself to go to sleep. Thoughts race through your head, holding your mind hostage.” —Megan Marples, Trapped by Your Own Thoughts?, CNN
 
6. “Lying in bed at night. Trying not to think about all the things I can’t stop thinking about.” —Unknown
7. “You know, I don’t think it’s what we say that keeps us up at night. I think it’s what we don’t say.” —Taib Khan
 
8. “I overthink. Especially at night.” —Unknown
 
9. “The night is the hardest time to be alive and 4 am knows all my secrets.” —Poppy Z. Brite
10. “I don’t think they realize how sleepless nights can affect you, or how overthinking slowly kills you. I don’t think they know how it can turn your mind into thoughts you wish weren’t yours.” —Unknown
 
11. “Sleeping is so hard when you can’t stop thinking.” —Unknown
 
12. “Overthinking hits hardest at night.” —Unknown
13. “We don’t lie down at night and think to ourselves, ‘Okay, time to ruminate for the next two hours instead of falling asleep.’ Your brain simply does what it has done in the past.” —Sarah Sperber, Overthinking: Causes, Definitions, and How to Stop, BerkeleyWellbeing
Sad quotes about overthinking
Although overthinking isn’t caused by mental illness like depression, it can contribute to it. If you are struggling with depression, sad quotes about overthinking like the ones below might help to make your worrying feel more normal. Too much overthinking can be exhausting, make sure you are getting help if you need it.
1. “Overthinking ruins you. Ruins the situation, twists things around, makes you worry and just makes everything much worse than it actually is.” —Karen Salmansohn
 
2. “While introspection can lead to self-understanding, insights, solutions and goal-setting, rumination can make us feel self-critical, self-doubting, stifled or even self-destructive.” —Are You Overthinking Everything?, PsychAlive
 
3. “My thoughts were killing me. I tried not to think, but the silence was a killer too.” —Unknown
4. “Thinking about all the things you could have done differently, second-guessing every decision you make, and imagining all the worst-case scenarios in life can be exhausting.” —Amy Morin, How to Know When You’re Overthinking, VeryWell
 
5. “Overthinking is just a painful reminder that you care too much, even when you shouldn’t.” —Unknown
 
6. “Sometimes the worst place you can be is in your head.” —Unknown
7. “Nothing will harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.” —Buddha
 
8. “I feel like I’m waiting for something that isn’t going to happen.” —Unknown
 
9. “I don’t mean to overthink and feel sad, it just happens.” —Unknown
10. “I’m going to automatically assume that everyone is unworthy to be trusted, so that way I won’t get close to anyone, so I’m protecting myself.” —Syeda Hasan, How Overthinking Can Affect Your Mental and Physical Health, KeraNews
Quotes about how overthinking kills your happiness
These are short quotes about overthinking and the negative effects it can have on your happiness. Finding new ways to calm your mind can help you create a happier life.
1. “I think and think and think, I‘ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.” —Jonathan Safran Foer
 
2. “Overthinking is the arch-enemy of your happiness.” —Unknown
 
3. “Our life situation is shaped by the quality of our thoughts.” —Darius Foroux, Stop Overthinking and Live in The Present!, Medium
4. “If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.” —Dean Smith
 
5. “You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your own thoughts.” —Philip Arnold
 
6. “Your inability to get out of your head may leave you in a constant state of anguish.” —Overthinking-To What Extent Can it Damage Your Life?, Pharmeasy
7. “Life is too short to be spent at war with yourself.” —Unknown
 
8. “Perfectionists and overachievers have tendencies to overthink because the fear of failing and the need to be perfect take over.” —Stephanie Anderson Whitmer, What is Overthinking…, GoodRxHealth
 
9. “Overthinking is the biggest cause of our unhappiness. Keep yourself occupied. Keep your mind off things that don’t help you.” —Unknown
10. “There is nothing more exhausting than going through the same pattern of negative thoughts over and over again.” —Parmita Uniyal, How Overthinking Can Play Havoc on Your Mental Health, HindustanTimes
 
11. “Overthinking sometimes involves beating yourself up for the decisions you already made.” —Amy Morin, How to Know When You’re Overthinking, VeryWell
Deep and meaningful quotes about overthinking
Some of these quotes are from famous people who have done incredible things with their lives. Their deep thoughts can help put your overthinking in a new perspective or give you meaningful insights.
1. “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” —Albert Einstein
 
2. “Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.” —W. Clement Stone
 
3. “The more you overthink, the less you will understand.” —Habeeb Akande
4. “People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” —George Bernard Shaw
 
5. “If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you cannot solve it, then what is the use of worrying?“ —Shantideva
 
6. “Ruminating on the worst possible scenarios and outcomes can be a misguided form of self-protection.” —Syeda Hasan, KeraNews
7. “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.” —Unknown
 
8. “People are often trapped by their own thoughts because they are striving for perfection or are trying to find a way to control a situation.” —Megan Marples, CNN
 
9. “That’s my problem, I think too much and feel too deeply. What a dangerous combination.” —Unknown
10. “I became a natural observer, able to take the temperature of a room, able to watch people’s micro-movements, listen to their language, their tone.” —Annalisa Barbieri, TheGuardian
 
11. “The interesting thing is that when I am with people who overthink, I relax. I let them do the thinking for me. When I am with underthinkers this leads me to become overloaded, because I sense I am not ‘safe’.” —Annalisa Barbieri, The Guardian
 
12. “It’s like a hamster running frantically on a wheel, exhausting itself without actually going anywhere.” —Ellen Hendriksen, Scientific American
13. “So often people confuse overthinking with problem-solving.” —Dinsa Sachan, Headspace
Funny quotes about overthinking
These positive quotes about overthinking are perfect to share with friends or add to an Instagram caption. They can help uplift your friends and followers, and prompt you and your friends to take your worries less seriously.
1. “Overthinking, also, best known as creating problems that are never there” —David Sikhosana
 
2. “My brain has too many tabs open.” —Unknown
 
3. “Overthinking: the art of creating problems that weren’t even there.” —Anupam Kher
4. “Hang on. Let me overthink this.” —Unknown
 
5. “I’ve got 99 problems and 86 of them are completely made up scenarios in my head that I’m stressing about for absolutely no logical reason.” —Unknown
 
5. “Shut up, mind.” —Unknown
7. “Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” —Elbert Hubbard
 
8. “If overthinking burned calories, I would be a supermodel.” —Unknown
 
9. “Worrying is like sitting in a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but doesn’t get you anywhere.” —Erma Bombeck
10. “I went through what I’d been thinking about for the past minute and it was a different thought for every second.” —Annalisa Barbieri, Why I’m Glad That I’m an ‘Overthinker’, TheGuardian
Quotes about anxiety and overthinking
The anxiety that we feel is often due to us overthinking and creating scenarios in our minds that aren’t completely real. These quotes are all about how overthinking can contribute to anxiety and overwhelm.
1. “Stress, anxiety, and depression can contribute to overthinking. Meanwhile, overthinking may be associated with increased stress, anxiety, and depression.” —Stephanie Anderson Whitmer, What is Overthinking…, GoodRxHealth
 
2. “I overanalyze situations because I’m scared of what may happen if I’m not prepared for it.” —Turcois Ominek
 
3. “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” —Kahlil Gibran
4. “Anxious times can send the overthinker into overdrive.” —Annalisa Barbieri, Why I’m Glad That I’m an ‘Overthinker’, TheGuardian
 
5. “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.” —Epictetus
 
6. “When you’re overthinking, the brain switches to ‘analysis mode.’ It begins to cycle through possible scenarios and attempts to predict what will happen to reduce your anxiety.” —Stephanie Anderson Whitmer, What is Overthinking…, GoodRxHealth
7. “Anxiety is not being able to sleep because you said something wrong two years ago and can’t stop thinking about it.” —Unknown
 
8. “Because we feel vulnerable about the future, we keep trying to solve problems in our head.” —Dinsa Sachan, Headspace
You might also like these quotes about anxiety.
Common questions:
Is overthinking a mental illness?
Overthinking itself is not a mental illness. However, ruminating on the past or worrying about the future can increase the likelihood of mental health disorders, such as anxiety and depression.[2]
What is overthinking?
Overthinking is when you get stuck in a loop of repeating thoughts that you feel unable to break. It often involves dwelling in the past or the future. Overthinkers might feel as though their thinking is helping them to solve a problem, but more often than not overthinking is not solution-oriented.
