54 Living with Chronic Pain Quotes for When Life Hurts
If you have ever lived with chronic pain, you know it can be debilitating—both mentally and physically. The pain prevents you from doing things you want to do. Your mind is always focused on what hurts. It’s difficult to sleep. Then you start all over again.
Before we get into our living with chronic pain quotes, we are going to examine what it is like to live with chronic pain, ways to cope with chronic pain, and how others live with people who have chronic pain.
Chronic pain is an area of study that is changing as I type. I saw a new pain management doctor twice this week—things seem to be moving in a direction that connects the mind to your physical pain. It’s really very interesting.
The science of pain management, mental health, and social well-being emphasizes their interconnectedness—it’s a biopsychosocial approach that considers biological, psychological, and social factors in treating pain.
*I’m not a medical professional so the information in this article should not be considered a personal consultation. You should see a pain management doctor if you are living with chronic pain.
I will be sharing what I learned this week at the new pain management facility and then we’ll get into quotes about living with chronic pain. You’ve got this! You have survived 100% of your worst days and you’ll survive this one too!
What is It Like to Live with Chronic Pain?
Living with chronic pain is like carrying an invisible weight—one that others may not see but affects every part of your life.
It’s more than just dealing with discomfort; it’s navigating daily routines, relationships, and emotions while managing symptoms that don’t go away.
Some days may be manageable, while others feel overwhelming. The unpredictability of pain can make it hard to plan ahead or fully enjoy life’s moments.
There’s often grief that comes with chronic pain too—the loss of who you used to be or what you used to do with ease.
And yet, people who live with chronic pain are some of the strongest and most resilient. They learn to adapt, find new ways to thrive, and build incredible inner strength—even when the world doesn’t fully understand their journey.
Common Conditions and Causes of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain can stem from many different health issues, injuries, or even unknown causes. Here are some of the most common:
- Arthritis and Joint Conditions (like osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis)
- Fibromyalgia – widespread muscle pain, fatigue, and tenderness
- Back or Neck Injuries – including herniated discs or spinal stenosis
- Nerve Damage or Neuropathy – from conditions like diabetes or shingles
- Chronic Migraines or Headaches
- Autoimmune Disorders – such as lupus or multiple sclerosis
- Endometriosis – painful condition involving uterine tissue growth
- Pelvic Pain Disorders – like interstitial cystitis or pelvic floor dysfunction
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)
- Post-Surgical Pain – pain that lingers long after a procedure
- Cancer or Cancer Treatments
- Old Injuries that never fully healed or worsened over time
- Digestive Disorders – such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or Crohn’s disease
- TMJ Disorders – jaw pain and tension
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) – often after an injury or surgery
- Depression or Anxiety – which can both contribute to and result from chronic pain
- Unknown Causes – sometimes pain doesn’t have a clear diagnosis, which can add to the emotional burden
Coping with Your Chronic Pain and Mental Well-Being
Chronic pain doesn’t just affect your body—it can take a serious toll on your mental and emotional health. That’s why caring for your mind is just as important as caring for your physical symptoms.
Here are a few supportive strategies that can help protect your mental well-being:
- Practice Mindfulness and Meditation: Gentle breathing exercises or short meditation sessions can reduce stress and help calm your nervous system.
- Build a Support System: Whether it’s online groups, close friends, or a trusted therapist, having people who understand and listen is powerful.
- Focus on What You Can Do: Shifting the mindset from loss to possibility—even in small ways—can help reframe your daily experience.
- Move Gently: If possible, low-impact movement like stretching, yoga, or walking can boost mood and reduce tension.
- Be Kind to Yourself: Talk to yourself with compassion, not criticism. Some days will be hard—and that’s okay.
- Find the Right Pain Management Specialist: Consider pain management groups that practice biopsychosocial medicine. These doctors treat the entire person rather than just a single, targeted problem.
- Utilize a Pain Management App: Apps such as Curable, PainScale, or Migraine Buddy. These apps all do different things, but I am currently using Curable.
You’re not weak for feeling frustrated, tired, or emotional. You’re human—and every part of your experience matters.
How to Live with Someone Who Has Chronic Pain
Living with a partner, friend, or family member who has chronic pain takes empathy, patience, and clear communication.
You may not be able to fix their pain—but your support can make a world of difference.
Here are ways to offer care and compassion:
- Listen Without Trying to Solve: Sometimes, just being present and allowing them to express what they’re feeling is the greatest gift.
- Ask What They Need (and Believe Them): Pain can change from day to day. Check in gently and respect their boundaries.
- Don’t Take It Personally: Chronic pain can cause mood swings, fatigue, or the need to cancel plans. It’s not about you—it’s about what they’re managing.
- Educate Yourself: Understanding their condition can help you become a more compassionate partner or caregiver.
- Celebrate the Good Moments: Joy still exists. Laugh together, dream together, and savor the pain-free or low-pain days.
Love, empathy, and grace can help you grow stronger together—even when chronic pain is part of the journey.
Now that you have a strong understanding of chronic pain, let’s look at living with chronic pain quotes to inspire and support those who suffer.
Quotes that Offer Encouragement and Strength
1. “You are stronger than you seem, braver than you believe, and smarter than you think you are.” — A.A. Milne
2. “The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.” — Fa Zhou, Mulan
3. “Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional.” –– Buddhist proverb
4. “Every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.” — Unknown
5. “We are bigger than our pain; we are also the love holding the pain.” — Kristin Neff
6. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” — Maya Angelou
7. “And here you are living despite it all.” –– Rupi Kaur, author and poet
8. “Laughter truly is medicine. Though this won’t fix everything, finding ways to smile and laugh more will change your body’s chemistry in many positive ways. This is not just a distraction: it is an effective way to find some respite from your pain. It’s okay to have fun when you’re in pain. Smiling and laughing may be difficult, but it’s both okay and possible. Keep trying!” — Dr Neil Pearson, a specialist in pain management
9. “By feeling the sunshine, or pleasure, we end up forgetting all of our miseries, or pains in life.“ — Mwanandeke Kindembo, self-help book author
10. “Healing is an art. It takes time, it takes practice. It takes love.” — Maza Dohta (aka Pavana Reddy), poet
11. “Can’t escape pain, kiddo. Battle through it and you get stronger.“ — Laurie Halse Anderson
Motivational Living with Chronic Pain Quotes
12. “Take care of your body, it’s the only place you have to live.” –– Jim Rohn, motivational speaker
13. “Sit with it. Sit with it. Sit with it. Sit with it. Even though you want to run. Even when it’s heavy and difficult. Even though you’re not quite sure of the way through. Healing happens by feeling.” –– Dr Rebecca Ray, psychologist and author
14. “Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” –– Michael J Fox, actor and Parkinson’s disease activist
15. “The attempt to escape from pain, is what creates more pain.” –– Gabor Maté, Canadian physician and author
16. “This too shall pass.” –– Persian proverb
17. “In the sea of life, pain is a tide that will ebb and weave, continually. We need to learn how to let it wash over us, without drowning in it. Our life doesn’t have to end where the pain begins, but rather, it is where we start to mend.” –– Jaeda DeWalt, artist and poet
18. “Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” –– Victor Hugo
19. “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” –– Steve Maraboli
20. “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” –– Anne Lamott, author and writing teacher
21. “What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.“ — Rumi, Iranian poet
22. “Learning’s a gift, even when pain’s your teacher!“ — Michael Jordan
23. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.“ — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Chronic Pain Quotes to Make You Chuckle
24. “Living with chronic pain is like trying to get comfortable on a cactus sofa.” — Unknown
25. “Can I order a replacement body, please? This one is constantly malfunctioning.” — Unknown
26. “I’m not an early bird or a night owl, I’m a permanently exhausted pigeon.” — Unknown
27. “My brain says let’s do something exciting today and my body says don’t listen to that fool.” — Unknown
28. “I remember being able to get up without making sound effects… good times.” — Unknown
29. “I am just going to put an ‘out of order’ sticker on my forehead and call it a day.” — Unknown
30. “If I woke up in the morning and nothing hurt, I would worry I was dead.” — Unknown
31. “When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” — Theodore Roosevelt
32. “If you stumble, make it part of the dance.” — Unknown
33. “That was exactly what Molly’s arthritis was like: as if some big old cow had got into her house and wouldn’t go away. It just sat there, taking up space in her life and making everything more difficult, mooing loudly from time to time and making cow pies.” — Alison Lurie, author
34. “Some days, I amaze myself. Other days, I put the keys in the fridge.” — Unknown
35. “I suffer from depression, or as my father puts it, ‘No I don’t.’” — Tig Notaro, comedian
36. “My therapist keeps telling me to stop comparing myself to other people – that life’s not a competition. Which, to be fair, is exactly what I’d say to someone I was trying to beat, too.” — Emily Murnane, writer, comedian
37. “I’m actually way funnier now, because I’m hungry… If comedy comes from pain, I should be funnier now than I ever was.” — Seth Rogen, actor
38. “Take pride in your pain. You are stronger than those who have none.” —=== Lois Lowry, Gathering Blue
39. “Sometimes you climb out of bed in the morning and you think, I’m not going to make it, but you laugh inside — remembering all the times you’ve felt that way.” — Charles Bukowski
Chronic Pain and Mental Health Quotes
40. “The mind is like tofu. It tastes like whatever you marinate it in.” –– Sylvia Boorstei, American author, psychotherapist, and Buddhist teacher
41. “Pain is a construct of the brain – 100% of the time.” –– Dr Lorimer Moseley
42. “You can change your brain. This is not wishful thinking, it is science, and we know people can do it even in the most difficult times, when pain is at its most severe.” — Dr Neil Pearson, a specialist in pain management
43. “The longer you have pain, the better your spinal cord gets at producing danger messages to the brain, even if there is no danger in the tissue.” –– Dr Lorimer Moseley, clinical scientist investigating pain in humans
44. “Chronic pain is not all about the body, and it’s not all about the brain – it’s everything. Target everything. Take back your life.” –– Sean Mackey, professor of pain medicine at Stanford
45. “Healing severe or chronic pain, I believe, includes transforming our relationship to the pain, and, ultimately, it is about transforming our relationship to who we are and to life.” –– Sarah Anne Shockley, author
46. “Positive self-talk is to emotional pain as a pain pill is to physical pain.” –– Edmond Mbika, self-help writer
47. “Do not resist your pain. Surrender to the grief, despair, fear, loneliness or what form the suffering takes. Witness it without labelling it mentally. Allow it to be there. Embrace it. Then see how the miracle of surrender transmutes deep suffering into deep peace.” –– Eckhart Tolle, German-born spiritual teacher and self-help author
48. “In resisting pain and trying to block it out, I’d also blocked out beauty and in opening to the pain I opened the door to a wealth of emotions such as love, tenderness and sensitivity.” –– Vidyamla Burch, founder of Breathworks and author
49. “The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.” — Caroline Myss, spiritual author
50. “Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.” — Hippocrates
Quotes for Caregivers
51. “People need to be more compassionate. Chronic pain is no joke. And it’s every day waking up not knowing how you’re going to feel.” — Lady Gaga
52. “The disease might hide the person underneath, but there’s still a person in there who needs your love and attention.” — Jamie Calandriello
53. “Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed, that’s all who ever have.” — Margaret Mead
54. “Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today.” — Amy Leigh Mercree
How to Use Quotes to Empower and Support You
Choose the quotes that resonate with you the most and put them on sticky notes. Place them everywhere—on your bathroom mirror, on your closet door, on your car dashboard, on your work keyboard—you probably get the idea.
Write your favorite quotes in your journal and use them for your meditation practice. Share them on your social media platforms for others who need inspiration about their chronic pain. (I think there are more people out there than we realize.)
Get creative and make a Vision Board out of your favorite quotes. Find images that inspire you and include them with your quotes. Spend time reflecting on the quotes to help change your mindset about pain.
Change the wording as needed to turn your favorite quotes into positive affirmations. Your affirmations should be worded in the present tense using pronouns, “I” and “me” and words like “my.” For example, “I must take care of my body because it’s the only place I have to live.”
Final Thoughts
I hope the information I’ve shared here is helpful. I’ve lived with chronic pain for many years because of arthritis in my lower back and migraines. Sometimes I handle it better than other times, but I try to focus on good times and blessings in my life.
Remember, pain management can involve three processes with the biopsychosocial approach. Mindset is a big component of your pain management—you’re not dealing with just a physical ailment.
Use these living with chronic pain quotes to help keep things in perspective and shift your mindset to one of gratitude.
Feel better and best wishes!
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- 87 Top Have Faith Everything Will Be Alright Quotes
- 43 Feeling Defeated Quotes to Lift Your Spirits
- 89 Trust the Process Quotes That Will Make You More Optimistic
Love to ALL! ~ Susan
