Article image

13 Quotes To Help You Move On From Past Loves

Getting over an ex-romantic partner is never easy, whether the breakup is still fresh in your mind or occurred years or even decades in the past. The bonds we form with those we love run so deep that severing them is always a painful challenge, one that takes a toll on the body and mind.

But relationships often come to an end for good reasons, even if those reasons may be hard to remember or recognize when we’re missing that previously special someone. What’s important is that we take all the time we need to heal so we can end up stronger and prepare ourselves for the next person who walks into our lives.

Whether we’ve since found another love, we’re still looking, or we’ve chosen to remain single, it’s only natural for all of us to reflect on past relationships in our own ways. Some people may think about (or even see) their exes every day, while others may randomly recall a passing memory here and there. It’s totally fine and normal to spend time thinking about the people who’ve played major roles in our lives.

But at the same time, excessively dwelling on the past can hold us back and prevent us from realizing the full potential of our future. Here are 13 quotes about moving on from former loves to help all of us appreciate and move on from those relationships that have affected us so deeply. After all, every relationship qualifies as a success if it helps us develop into wiser, more self-aware people.

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.
Raymond Lindquist

Share Quote

Every time your heart is broken, a doorway cracks open to a world full of new beginnings, new opportunities.
Patti Roberts

Share Quote

Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.
Steve Maraboli

Share Quote

The emotion that can break your heart is sometimes the very one that heals it.
Nicholas Sparks

Share Quote

The right one for you will move mountains to be with you. He won’t hide behind them.
Mandy Hale

Share Quote

‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Share Quote

Accept yourself, love yourself, and keep moving forward. If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down.
Roy T. Bennett

Share Quote

Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.
The Wizard (Frank Morgan) in “The Wizard of Oz”

Share Quote

Some people are going to leave. But that’s not the end of your story. That’s the end of their part in your story.
Faraaz Sadruddin Kazi

Share Quote

Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing which keeps you from hope and love?
Leo Buscaglia

Share Quote

Don’t cry when the sun is gone, because the tears won’t let you see the stars.
Violeta Parra

Share Quote

A broken heart is just the growing pains necessary so that you can love more completely when the real thing comes along.
J.S.B. Morse

Share Quote

Love is never lost. If not reciprocated it will flow back and soften and purify the heart.
Washington Irving

Share Quote

Featured image credit: Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images

Author image
About the Author
Bennett Kleinman
Bennett is a staff writer at Optimism as well as a freelance comedy writer. He's based in New York City.
Play more header background
Play more icon
Daily Question
Fill in the blank: "___ is a very powerful thing, more powerful than intellect." - Steve Jobs

More Inspiration

happiness theme icon

Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.

separator icon
Sharon Begley
motivation theme icon

If there's love in a house, it's a palace for sure.

separator icon
Tom Waits
hope theme icon

I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

separator icon
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
love theme icon

Open to whatever you experience without fighting. Let it be present just as it is. Let go of the battle.

separator icon
Jack Kornfield
wisdom theme icon

The truth is the light and light is the truth.

separator icon
Ralph Ellison
happiness theme icon

Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

separator icon
Martin Luther King Jr.
motivation theme icon

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

separator icon
T.S. Eliot
hope theme icon

Maybe who we are isn't so much about what we do, but rather what we're capable of when we least expect it.

separator icon
Jodi Picoult
love theme icon

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.

separator icon
William A. Ward
wisdom theme icon

It isn't just talent. You have to have something else. You have to have a kind of nerve.

separator icon
Georgia O’Keeffe
happiness theme icon

The quality of your life depends quite a bit on the quality of attention you project out onto the world.

separator icon
David Brooks