Holding on to the past will only serve to impair your future.
It’s often hard to let things go that mattered a great deal to us, but in order to best heal, we must learn to let go. These letting go quotes will inspire you to move forward in your life.
You are reading: letting go of the love of your life quotes
Whether it’s a relationship, a change in life circumstances, or simply something that is no longer serving you well, letting go is something that you must do in order to heal and move on.
If you stay somewhere or in something that wasn’t meant to be, you’re only doing yourself an injustice and putting your future in jeopardy.
There is a saying that depression is living in the past, anxiety is worrying about the future, and true contentment is living in the present. I know this to be true for my patients and in my work.
However, if an individual can learn to master the skills of letting go of past hurts and grievances they are holding on to, and to stop worrying about every possible case scenario in the future that can go wrong – then they can truly feel a sense of peace, and have a more successful and meaningful present, in all areas of their lives.
Below are some moving on and letting go quotes that I hope will plant kernels of inspiration and grounding for your life. With this newfound peace and lightness, great things can be accomplished, and your life can be more fully enjoyed.
We also have a compilation of quotes about moving that will inspire you to let go of your past.
Letting go quotes about relationships
1. “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” ― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
2. “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don’t.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
3. “Sometimes it takes a heartbreak to shake us awake & help us see we are worth so much more than we’re settling for.” ― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of SassIf you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of heart break quotes about moving on from a break-up.
4. “Every woman that finally figured out her worth, has picked up her suitcases of pride and boarded a flight to freedom, which landed in the valley of change.” ― Shannon L. Alder
5. “If letting go, if letting people and things work themselves out in the way that they needed to without your help was the most important thing, then it was also the hardest.” ― Deb Caletti, The Six Rules of Maybe
6. “When someone you love says goodbye you can stare long and hard at the door they closed and forget to see all the doors God has open in front of you.” ― Shannon L. Alder
7. “Thank God I found the GOOD in goodbye.” – Beyonce Knowles
8. “When we think we have been hurt by someone in the past, we build up defenses to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future. So the fearful past causes a fearful future and the past and future become one. We cannot love when we feel fear…. When we release the fearful past and forgive everyone, we will experience total love and oneness with all.” ― Gerald G. Jampolsky
9. “If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you’re allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.” ― Shannon L. Alder
10. “If you want to forget something or someone, never hate it, or never hate him/her. Everything and everyone that you hate is engraved upon your heart; if you want to let go of something, if you want to forget, you cannot hate.” ― C. JoyBell C.
Don’t forget to also read these misery loves company quotes and sayings to help you move forward.
Let it go quotes that will guide you
11. “There is no such thing as a “broken family.” Family is family, and is not determined by marriage certificates, divorce papers, and adoption documents. Families are made in the heart. The only time family becomes null is when those ties in the heart are cut. If you cut those ties, those people are not your family. If you make those ties, those people are your family. And if you hate those ties, those people will still be your family because whatever you hate will always be with you.” ― C. JoyBell C.
12. “If you didn’t love him, this never would have happened. But you did. And accepting that love and everything that followed it is part of letting it go.” ― Sarah Dessen, Dreamland
13. “I realize there’s something incredibly honest about trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go.” ― Jeffrey McDaniel
14. “Let go of certainty. The opposite isn’t uncertainty. It’s openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.” ― Tony Schwartz
15. “Being different is a revolving door in your life where secure people enter and insecure exit.” ― Shannon L. Alder
16. “If you truly want to be respected by people you love, you must prove to them that you can survive without them.” – Shannon L. Alder
17. “The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being FreeIf you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of simplicity quotes to encourage a positive mindset.
18. “Love is never supposed to hurt. Love is supposed to heal, to be your haven from misery, to make living fucking worthwhile.” ― Mia Asher, Arsen: A Broken Love Story
19. “The most difficult aspect of moving on is accepting that the other person already did.” ― FaraazKazi
Also read these walking away quotes for when it’s time to let go.
Inspirational moving on quotes about life
Be inspired by these letting go quotes on life
20. “The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday.” ― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience
21. “We can’t be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don’t have something better.” ― C. JoyBell C.
22. “There are times in life when people must know when not to let go. Balloons are designed to teach small children this.” ― Terry Pratchett
23. “Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.” ― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different SeasonsIf you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of Shawshank Redemption quotes to give you hope in the darkest times.
24. “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” ― Ann Landers
25. “Even on my weakest days I get a little bit stronger” ― Sara Evans
26. “Most things are forgotten over time. Even the war itself, the life-and-death struggle people went through is now like something from the distant past. We’re so caught up in our everyday lives that events of the past are no longer in orbit around our minds. There are just too many things we have to think about everyday, too many new things we have to learn. But still, no matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away. They remain with us forever, like a touchstone.” ― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore
27. “You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.” – C. Joybell C.
28. “I’m guilty of giving people more chances than they deserve but when I’m done, I’m done.” ― Turcois Ominek
29. “I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but to move forward” ― Fridtjof Nansen
30. “I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It’s okay if you have to leave us. It’s okay if you want to stop fighting.” ― Gayle Forman, If I Stay
See Also: 125 Life Quotes
31. “Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” ― Deborah Reber, Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul
32. “A star falls from the sky and into your hands. Then it seeps through your veins and swims inside your blood and becomes every part of you. And then you have to put it back into the sky. And it’s the most painful thing you’ll ever have to do and that you’ve ever done. But what’s yours is yours. Whether it’s up in the sky or here in your hands. And one day, it’ll fall from the sky and hit you in the head real hard and that time, you won’t have to put it back in the sky again.” ― C. JoyBell C.
34. “One of the best times for figuring out who you are and what you really want out of life? Right after a break-up.” ― Mandy Hale, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass
35. “If people refuse to look at you in a new light and they can only see you for what you were, only see you for the mistakes you’ve made, if they don’t realize that you are not your mistakes, then they have to go.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
Let go quotes about forgiveness
36. “Inner peace can be reached only when we practice forgiveness. Forgiveness is letting go of the past, and is therefore the means for correcting our misperceptions.” ― Gerald G. Jampolsky, Love Is Letting Go of Fear
37. “Letting go. Everyone talks about it like it’s the easiest thing. Unfurl your fingers one by one until your hand is open. But my hand has been clenched into a fist for three years now; it’s frozen shut.” ― Gayle Forman, Where She Went
38. “The truth was, he now belonged only to my past, and it was time I begin to accept it, as much as it hurt to do so.” ― Tammara Webber, Easy
39. “And I told him, I said: “One day you’re going to miss the subway because it’s not going to come. One of these days, it’s going to break down and it’s not going to come around and everyone else will just wait for the next one or will take the bus, or walk, or run to the next station: they will go on with their lives. And you’re not going to be able to go on with your life! You’ll be standing there, in the subway station, staring at the tube. Why? Because you think that everything has to happen perfectly and on time and when you think it’s going to happen! Well guess what! That’s not how things happen! And you’ll be the only one who’s not going to be able to go on with life, just because your subway broke down. So you know what, you’ve got to let go, you’ve got to know that things don’t happen the way you think they’re going to happen, but that’s okay, because there’s always the bus, there’s always the next station…you can always take a cab.” ― C. JoyBell C.
40. “There ain’t no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.” ― Kate DiCamillo, Because of Winn-Dixie
42. “Last night I lost the world, and gained the universe.” ― C. JoyBell C.
43. “The day I understood everything, was the day I stopped trying to figure everything out. The day I knew peace was the day I let everything go.” ― C. JoyBell C.
44. “Your time is way too valuable to be wasting on people that can’t accept who you are.” ― TurcoisOminek
45. “No matter how much suffering you went through, you never wanted to let go of those memories.” ― Haruki Murakami
46. “When you leave, weary of me, without a word I shall gently let you go.” ― Kim Sowol
47. “Nothing ever happens like you imagine it will… but then again, if you don’t imagine, nothing ever happens at all. Imagining isn’t perfect. You can’t get all the way inside someone else… But imagining being someone else, or the world being something else, is the only way in. It is the machine that kills the fascists” ― John Green, Paper Towns
48. “Today expect something good to happen to you no matter what occurred yesterday. Realize the past no longer holds you captive. It can only continue to hurt you if you hold on to it. Let the past go. A simply abundant world awaits. (January 11)” ― Sarah Ban Breathnach, Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy
50. “Sometimes the hardest part isn’t letting go but rather learning to start over.” ― Nicole Sobon, Program 13
Letting go and moving on quotes for him
51. “Sometimes, we have to fight for what we love and care about. Other times, we have to find strength to let go of the things we love most” – Anonymous
52. “Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” – Deborah Reber
53. “You must be strong enough to know that love will come to you when you are ready. You must be strong enough to know when to say goodbye, and know that letting go is not weak.” – Marisa Donnelly
54. “It is tough to let go of someone you can’t live without. But living with someone who can live without you, is much worse.” – Anon
Letting go and moving on quotes for her
55. “Sometimes people come into your life just to teach you how to let go.”- Jackson Kiddard
56. “It’s tough to let go and move on from bad relationships, but so is every other good thing in life.” – AnonIf you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of toxic relationships quotes that will remind you it’s time to make some big changes.
57. “Letting go does not mean you stop caring. It means you stop trying to force others to.” – Mandy Hale
58. “You don’t need strength to let go of something. What you really need is understanding.” – Guy Finley
59. “Letting go means to come to the realization that some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.” – Steve Maraboli
60. “I think that you never fall out of love with somebody, you just let go and move on.”—Ashley Rickards
Inspirational moving on quotes
Here are other thoughtful letting go quotes to inspire you even more.
61. “One of the happiest moments in life is when you find the courage to let go of what you cannot change.” – AnonIf you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of living life in the moment quotes that will remind you to enjoy life today.
62. “Anything you can’t control is teaching you how to let go.” – Jackson Kiddard
63. “You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them.” –C. JoyBell C.
64. “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
65. “You have to let go of who you were to become who you will be.” – Candace Bushnell
66. “At some point, you gotta let go, and sit still, and allow contentment to come to you.”- Elizabeth Gilbert
67. “Starting today, I need to forget what’s gone, appreciate what still remains and look forward to what’s coming next” – Anon
68. “We need to learn to let go as easily as we grasp and we will find our hands full and our minds empty.”- Leo F. Buscaglia
69. “To let go is to release the images and emotions, the grudges and fears, the clingings and disappointments of the past that bind our spirit.”- Jack Kornfield
70. “Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”- Raymond Lindquist
Moving on quotes to help you move forward
71. “Change has to come for life to struggle forward.”- Helen Hollick
72. “You’ve got to make a conscious choice every day to shed the old – whatever “the old” means for you.” – Sarah Ban Breathnach
73. “We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”- Walt DisneyIf you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of curiosity quotes that will inspire you to learn more about the world around you.
See Also: The Motivational Quotes and Life Quotes That Can Help You Rise Above
74. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” – Seneca
75. “I do a good job of staying positive and just moving on.” – Katie Taylor
76. “I can enjoy anywhere, and I can leave it. Life is about moving on.” – Waris Dirie
77. “Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” ― Steve Maraboli
78. “Moving on is easy. It’s staying moved on that’s trickier.”― Katerina Stoykova Klemer
79. “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” ― Lyndon B. Johnson
80. “You don’t have to let that one thing be the thing that defines you.”― Jojo Moyes
More quotes about moving forward & letting go
81. “There’s an important difference between giving up and letting go.”- Jessica Hatchigan
82. “Life moves forward. The old leaves wither, die and fall away, and the new growth extends forward into the light.”- Bryant McGill
83. “Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energy moving forward together towards an answer.”- Denis Waitley
84. “To help yourself, you must be yourself. Be the best that you can be. When you make a mistake, learn from it, pick yourself up and move on.” – Dave PelzerIf you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of mistake quotes about learning from error.
85. “Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.”― Robert Brault
86. “You need to have faith in yourself. Be brave and take risks. You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward.” ― Roy T. Bennett
87. “Rehashing the past wouldn’t change anything. Time to move forward.” ― Zena Wynn
88. “I welcomed who I was and left behind who I was not.”― David Elliott
89. “Our scars make us who we are. Wear them proudly, and move forward.”― Jane Linfoot
90. “You can’t expect to move forward if your emergency break is on.” ― Angela Cecilia
Letting go quotes to inspire fresh beginnings
91. “Don’t go through life; grow through life.”― Eric Butterworth
92. “Don’t hang on to the past and don’t look on to the future, focus on your present and present will build your future, cover your past and make your present worth a while”― Meeran W. Malik
93. “No boundary or barrier surrounds the heart of a person that loves their self and others.”― Shannon L. Alder
94. “Instead of thinking I am losing something when I clear clutter, I dwell on what I might gain.”― Lisa J. Shultz
95. “Why let go of yesterday? Because yesterday has already let go of you.”― Steve Maraboli
96. “Sometimes you hold on to what’s left, Sometimes you let go to start afresh.”― Sanhita Baruah
97. “Convince yourself everyday that you are worthy of a good life. Let go of stress, breathe. Stay positive, all is well.”― Germany KentIf you’re enjoying these quotes, you’ll love our collection of soothing breathe quotes to help you relax.
98. “There is absolutely no beauty in holding onto something that you’re supposed to let go of.”― Sai Pradeep
99. “Sometimes letting go is braver than holding on until you break.”― Rebekah Crane
100. “Life is like a river, if you cannot let go of the past, it will drag you down the stream.”― Amit Ray
Other eye-opening Letting go quotes
101. “All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”― Henry Havelock Ellis
102. “Letting go is also a matter of self-worth.”― Efrat Cybulkiewicz
103. “The greatest win is walking away and choosing not to engage in drama and toxic energy at all.”― Lalah Delia
104. “By accepting the process of letting go, we make people and things that we can’t stay with forever a part of our history.”― Dr Prem Jagyasi
105. “You only struggle because you’re ready to grow but aren’t willing to let go.”― Drew Gerald
106. “Let the things of long ago drift away on the water.”― Alan Brennert
107. “It’s the way you fall you. Gotta let yourself go.”― Melville Shavelson
108. “You can’t hold on to the past and expect to grow as a human being.”― Marty Rubin
109. “Sometimes the only way to get a grip is by learning to let go.”― Curtis Tyrone Jones
110. “A mistake is only a mistake if you dwell on it. Let go and forgive.”― Akiroq Brost
Remember to also read these new beginning quotes to broaden your thoughts.
Which letting go quotes stood out to you most and why?
Letting go and moving on of love, anger, expectations or burdens is never an easy thing to do. Let this moving forward quotes plant kernels of inspiration and grounding for your life so you can have inner peace, lightness and presence.
Moving forward is something we all need to learn if we want to discover better things in life. Hopefully, these let go quotes have given you strength and inspiration to do what you believe is right.
Did you enjoy these quotes about letting go? Which letting go quotes were your favorite? Tell us in the comment section below. We would love to hear all about.
See Also: 46 Relatable Quotes About Life In 2021