Healing Words
Today's Healing Quote
It's enough to move forward just one step a day.
Why a page of old words
Difficult stretches tend to make a person's world narrow. A line that has already travelled through a few centuries can widen it again for a moment — not because it solves anything, but because it is proof that someone else stood roughly where you are standing and found the words for it.
This page keeps three kinds of writing side by side. Proverbs and scripture carry the weight of repetition: they survived because generations kept finding them useful. Lines from literature and philosophy are more particular — a single mind working something out. And the third column belongs to readers, in their own words.
How these quotes are sourced.
We publish only material that is in the public domain — proverbs and traditional
sayings, the King James Bible, and writers whose work has passed out of copyright —
or original writing submitted by readers. Where a line is a modern rendering rather
than a literal translation, the source is marked with “After …”. Quotes attributed to
modern authors are deliberately excluded, and popular internet misattributions are
not published. If you spot an attribution error, please
tell us and we'll correct it.
Proverbs & scripture
Words passed down through time
This too shall pass.Traditional proverb
The ground grows firmer after the rain.Traditional proverb
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.Traditional proverb
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.Psalm 23:1 (KJV)
Better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.Traditional proverb
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Matthew 11:28 (KJV)
However dark the night, morning always comes.Traditional proverb
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.Matthew 6:34 (KJV)
Gray hair is a crown of experience.After Proverbs 16:31 (KJV)
The moment you think it's too late is the earliest moment you have.Traditional proverb
Time heals all wounds.Traditional proverb
Learning knows no age.Traditional proverb
A single warm word can warm three winter months.Japanese proverb
Believing you can do it is already half the success.Traditional proverb
Age is carved into the body, but wisdom is carved into the heart.Traditional proverb
Failure is the mother of success.Traditional proverb
Share it, and sorrow shrinks while joy grows.Traditional proverb
The past is experience, the future is hope, and the present is a gift.Traditional proverb
When the mind is at peace, the body is at ease.Traditional proverb
Life is a marathon, not a sprint.Traditional proverb
Age is a matter of the mind.Traditional proverb
Even a small achievement is a seed of great success.Traditional proverb
Youth is a season of the body; maturity is a season of the mind.Traditional proverb
Without trying, you gain nothing.Traditional proverb
The flower that blooms late is the most beautiful.Traditional proverb
Lines from literature
Public-domain writers and philosophers
Do not dwell on the past or fear the future; live fully in the present moment.After Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor and philosopher), Meditations
He who is content with what he has is the richest of all.After Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher)
Every ending is a new beginning.After Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher)
Well begun is half done.After Aristotle (Greek philosopher)
The darkest hour is just before the dawn.After Thomas Fuller (English historian)
Hope is the dream of a waking mind.After Aristotle (Greek philosopher)
The greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.Oliver Goldsmith (Irish novelist and poet), The Citizen of the World (1760)
Men are disturbed not by the things which happen, but by the opinions about the things.After Epictetus (Greek Stoic philosopher), Enchiridion
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.William Shakespeare (English playwright), Hamlet (1603)
Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.Helen Keller (American author and activist), Optimism (1903)
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.Helen Keller (American author and activist), Optimism (1903)
Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.Ralph Waldo Emerson (American essayist and poet), Circles (1841)
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.After Ralph Waldo Emerson (American essayist and poet)
He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.Friedrich Nietzsche (German philosopher), Twilight of the Idols (1889)
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.Theodore Roosevelt (26th U.S. President), An Autobiography (1913)
Our life is what our thoughts make it.Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor and philosopher), Meditations
Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour does the body.After Seneca (Roman Stoic philosopher), Letters to Lucilius
A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.John A. Shedd (American author), Salt from My Attic (1928)
Words from the heart
Original writing shared by readers
You made it through today — that alone means you're doing just fine.Anonymous
Breathe deeply, and your mind deepens too.Anonymous
Don't fear change - treat it as a chance to grow.Anonymous
Start with the small things you can do today.Anonymous
The older you get, the more joy there is in learning something new.Anonymous
A little progress each day adds up to great change in a year.Anonymous
It's enough to move forward just one step a day.Anonymous
Simply trying something new is already a success.Anonymous
Small miracles happen every day.Anonymous
Growing old isn't losing the chance to be young - it's gaining the chance to grow deeper.Anonymous
A mistake is a comma in life, not a period.Anonymous
Growing old is a privilege - not everyone gets to.Anonymous
The path opens to those who never give up.Anonymous
A new day is a new opportunity.Anonymous
Simply being heard is a great comfort.Anonymous
What you learn with age is not how to give up, but how to begin again.Anonymous
If today's you is even a little better than yesterday's, that's success.Anonymous
Today's effort becomes tomorrow's skill.Anonymous
Even in failure, the attempt alone deserves applause.Anonymous