What you let into your mind and everyday life will have a big effect on you. A positive effect. Or perhaps a negative effect.
So in this post I’ve put together 140 of the most powerful quotes on toxic people.
On how they can hurt you and what you can do to limit or stop the influence they may have over your life. But also on how to love yourself, on how to let go of such people and move on towards your happier and more positive future.
And don’t forget to apply what you learn here to your intake of social media channels, podcasts, the books you read and forums you use.
Because that is also a very important part of the environment that will shape your thoughts and your days and weeks.
If you want more inspirational quotes on how to handle the difficult times in life have a look at this post with tips and quotes about mistakes and also this one about confidence.
Quotes on Toxic People That Will Help You to Cut Out the Negativity
“Toxic people attach themselves like cinder blocks tied to your ankles, and then invite you for a swim in their poisoned waters.”
John Mark Green
“Let go of negative people. They only show up to share complaints, problems, disastrous stories, fear, and judgment on others. If somebody is looking for a bin to throw all their trash into, make sure it’s not in your mind.”
Dalai Lama
“Real love moves freely in both directions. Don’t waste your time on anything else.”
Cheryl Strayed
“Don’t let toxic people infect you with the fear of giving and receiving one of the most powerful forces in this world… LOVE!”
Yvonne Pierre
“Pay no attention to toxic words. What people say is often a reflection of themselves, not you.”
Christian Baloga
“I think most people know when they’re in a toxic relationship – it requires an enormous amount of effort to keep it going, and you don’t get what you want from it.”
Joanna Coles
“I have found the best way to deal with a toxic person is to not respond in any other way than a monotone voice and a businesslike manner.”
Jen Grice
“Unhappy people can be very dangerous, don’t forget that.”
S.E. Lynes
“Let negative people live their negative lives with their negative minds.”
Moosa Rahat
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you too can become great.”
Mark Twain
“No matter how much you love the person, you cannot change them. You may influence them; but at the end of the day, they must decide for themselves.”
Robert E. Baines Jr.
“You create more space in your life when you turn your excess baggage to garbage.”
Chinonye J. Chidolue
“People who love themselves, don’t hurt other people. The more we hate ourselves, the more we want others to suffer.”
Dan Pearce
“Remember…Whoever is trying to bring you down is already below you.”
Ziad K. Abdelnour
“Like arsenic, toxic people will slowly kill you. They kill your positive spirit and play with your mind and emotions. The only cure is to let them go.”
Dennisse Lisseth
“Surround yourself with positive people who believe in your dreams, encourage your ideas, support your ambitions, and bring out the best in you.”
Roy Bennett
“I don’t want everyone to like me; I should think less of myself if some people did.”
Henry James
“It’s one thing if a person owns up to their behavior and makes an effort to change. But if a person disregards your feelings, ignores your boundaries, and continues to treat you in a harmful way, they need to go.”
Daniell Koepke
“Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings, and emotions.”
Will Smith
“There’s folks you just don’t need. You’re better off without em. Your life is just a little better because they ain’t in it.”
William Gay
“Love yourself enough to set boundaries. Your time and energy are precious. You get to choose how you use it. You teach people how to treat you by deciding what you will and won’t accept.”
Anna Taylor
“Don’t let toxic people sabotage your happiness, ruin your positive attitude, contaminate your mind or destroy your self-confidence. Instead, surround yourself with generous, positive, and nurturing people who will lift you up.”
Farshad Asl
“Weeding out the harmful influences should become the norm not the exception.”
Carlos Wallace
“If they do it often, it isn’t a mistake; it’s just their behavior.”
Steve Maraboli
“Some people are in such utter darkness that they will burn you just to see a light. Try not to take it personally.”
Kamand Kojouri
“As important as it is to learn how to deal with different kinds of people, truly toxic people will never be worth your time and energy – and they take a lot of each. Toxic people create unnecessary complexity, strife, and, worst of all, stress.”
Travis Bradberry
“Every day you must unlearn the ways that hold you back. You must rid yourself of negativity, so you can learn to fly.”
Leon Brown
“Save your skin from the corrosive acids from the mouths of toxic people. Someone who just helped you to speak evil about another person can later help another person to speak evil about you.”
Israelmore Ayivor
“We all have those toxic people around us that make our lives miserable… The day we take them out from our lives, we will all become better people; including them…”
Rodolfo Peon
“It’s rare for a toxic person to change their behavior. More often, the only thing that varies is their target and the blame they place. Because some toxic people are difficult to identify, keep in mind that a victim mindset is sometimes a red flag. So, listen when someone talks about their life and circumstances. If the list of people they blame is long… it’s probably only a matter of time before you’re on that list.”
Steve Maraboli
“People who try to bring you down everyday aren’t important in your life, so you better treat their opinions as such.”
Terry Mark
“If a negative viewer looks at you with an ugly fiendish eye, find a way and pluck off his eyes, or better still, protect your good image.”
Michael Bassey Johnson
“My father once said, ‘If you’re in the desert and you’re dying of thirst, are you going to drink a glass of blood or are you going to drink a glass of water?’ I think what he was trying to say, interesting coming from my blood father, is sometimes there are people in your family that can be toxic.”
Nicolas Cage
“We don’t get to choose our family, but we can choose our friends. With courage, we can weed out narcissistic people. We can focus on those who do appreciate us, love us, and treat us with respect.”
Dana Arcuri
“Controllers, abusers, and manipulative people don’t question themselves. They don’t ask themselves if the problem is them. They always say the problem is someone else.”
Darlene Quimet
“Toxic people will pollute everything around them. Don’t hesitate. Fumigate.”
Mandy Hale
“Don’t confuse “familiar” with “acceptable”. Toxic relationships can fool you like that.”
Steve Maraboli
“If a person finds negative people in his life, then he needs to mend his own nature than that of others, for his own basic grounding decides the level of acidic or toxicity surrounding him.”
Anuj Somany
“Energy vampires prey on others because they are in pain, and their behavior is a disguised cry for help. However, the important thing to remember is that you are not responsible for resolving their issues. While you can offer help to an energy vampire, it is ultimately their responsibility to sort out their struggles.”
Aletheia Luna
“A lot of people who have experienced trauma at the hands of people they’ve trusted take responsibility, and that is what’s toxic.”
Hannah Gadsby
“I will not allow anyone to walk in my mind with dirty feet.”
Mahatma Gandhi
“The wrong person will give you less than what you’re worth but that doesn’t mean that you have to accept it.”
Sonya Parker
“Don’t let people get the best of you, they can say what they want but don’t let that distract you from achieving your goals.”
Alcurtis Turner
“Look around you at the people you spend the most time with and realize that your life can’t rise any higher than your friendships.”
Mandy Hale
“Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself.”
Oprah Winfrey
“They like you more when you don’t challenge them. They prefer to have an upper hand over you.”
Mitta Xinindlu
“If you attach to the negative behavior of others it brings you down to their level.”
Guru Singh
“It’s amazing how quickly things can turn around when you remove toxic people from your life.”
Robert Tew
“Letting go of toxic people in your life is a big step in loving yourself.”
Hussein Nishah
“Beware of those around you who subtly sow the seeds of doubt.”
Wayne Gerard Trotman
“People inspire you, or they drain you. Pick them wisely.”
Hans F. Hasen
“When you notice someone does something toxic the first time, don’t wait for the second time before you address it.”
Shahida Arabi
“Handling toxic people is not an art, they will be the victim of their own toxicity.”
P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
“Hanging around the small-minded eventually makes us small-minded. The plant only grows as big as the environment it’s in.”
Torron-Lee Dewar
“What’s more toxic than what they have done, think, or have said about you is how you let your mind receive it. In a world as ours filled with so much noise and hate, what suffers the most is our minds. Know when to keep your mind shut!”
Chinonye J. Chidolue
“Sometimes it’s better to end something and try to start something new than imprison yourself in hoping for the impossible.”
Karen Salmansohn
“If you do not respect your own wishes, no one else will. You will simply attract people who disrespect you as much as you do.”
Vironika Tugaleva
“To be of good quality, you have to excuse yourself from the presence of shallow and callow minded individuals.”
Michael Bassey Johnson
“Negative people can only infest you with discouragements when they find you around… Just get lost and get saved!”
Israelmore Ayivor
“I found peace of mind when I walked away from small fights not worth fighting. I stopped fighting for people who gossiped about me. I stopped fighting for those who didn’t respect me. I quit worrying about those who wouldn’t value me for being me.”
Dana Arcuri
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“When someone tells me ‘no,’ it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them.”
Karen E. Quinones Miller
“As you remove toxic people from your life, you free up space and emotional energy for positive, healthy relationships.”
John Mark Green
“Keeping bad company is like being in a germ-infested area. You never know what you’ll catch.”
Frank Sonnenberg
“If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.”
Michael Jordan
“I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”
Frederick Douglass
“Many people get into a relationship as a way to compensate for something they lack or hate within themselves. This is a one-way ticket to a toxic relationship because it makes your love conditional – you will love your partner as long as they help you feel better about yourself.”
Mark Manson
“While you can’t control someone’s negative behavior, you can control how long you participate in it.”
Unknown
“One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself.”
Shannon L. Alder
“An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.”
Goi Nasu
“Sometimes you don’t get closure, you just move on.”
Karen Salmansohn
Quotes that Will Help You to Love Yourself, Let Go and Move on with Your Life
“If it comes, let it come. If it goes, it’s OK, let it go. Let things come and go. Stay calm, don’t let anything disturb your peace, and carry on.”
Germany Kent
“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.
“Self-love is an ocean and your heart is a vessel. Make it full, and any excess will spill over into the lives of the people you hold dear. But you must come first.”
Beau Taplin
“Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line.”
Lucille Ball
“Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”
Brené Brown
“Poisonous relationships can alter our perception. You can spend many years thinking you’re worthless. But you’re not worthless. You’re underappreciated.”
Steve Maraboli
“When I loved myself enough, I began leaving whatever wasn’t healthy. This meant people, jobs, my own beliefs and habits – anything that kept me small. My judgement called it disloyal. Now I see it as self-loving.”
Kim McMillen
“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
“It’s very possible and very okay to forgive someone and still not want to spend time with them.”
Karen Salmansohn
“Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.”
Hermann Hesse
“Why do people persist in a dissatisfying relationship, unwilling either to work toward solutions or end it and move on? It’s because they know changing will lead to the unknown, and most people believe that the unknown will be much more painful than what they’re already experiencing.”
Anthony Robbins
“You really don’t have to burn any bridges to let go… You don’t have to destroy anything. You can just decide to cross over and move on.”
Marta Mrotek
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.
“When we go back in to the past and rake up all the troubles we’ve had, we end up reeling and staggering through life. Stability and peace of mind come by living in the moment.”
Pam W. Vredevelt
“There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world, it’s the beginning of a new life.”
Unknown
“Keeping baggage from the past will leave no room for happiness in the future.”
Wayne L. Misner
“We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
Joseph Campbell
“What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think – or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?”
Brené Brown
“Our self-respect tracks our choices. Every time we act in harmony with our authentic self and our heart, we earn our respect. It is that simple. Every choice matters.”
Dan Coppersmith
“There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
Anaïs Nin
“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 Pelzer
“Even a rock moves on.”
Anthony Liccione
“I found in my research that the biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent. They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line. Most people have gotten it wrong because our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”
Kristen Neff
“If someone thinks you’re being dramatic or selfish, then they obviously haven’t walked a mile in your shoes. It’s not important for you to explain yourself. You get a pass here. Don’t let anyone else try to saddle you with guilt or shame. If you need your space, take it.”
Sarah Newman
“Don’t rely on someone else for your happiness and self-worth. Only you can be responsible for that. If you can’t love and respect yourself – no one else will be able to make that happen. Accept who you are – completely; the good and the bad – and make changes as YOU see fit – not because you think someone else wants you to be different.”
Stacey Charter
“If you walked away from a toxic, negative, abusive, one-sided, dead-end low vibrational relationship or friendship — you won.”
Lalah Delia
“If we fail to adapt, we fail to move forward.”
John Wooden
“We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails.”
Dolly Parton
“Once you realize you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make.”
Roy T. Bennett
“Time is an equal opportunity employer. Each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes every day. Rich people can’t buy more hours. Scientists can’t invent new minutes. And you can’t save time to spend it on another day. Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving. No matter how much time you’ve wasted in the past, you still have an entire tomorrow.”
Denis Waitley
“You don’t have to live happily ever after with every single person in your life in order to live happily ever after. Some unfortunate endings are necessary.”
Joyce Rachelle
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
Buddha
“No one forces a person to be negative, and no one forces anyone to be positive. The choice is up to an individual and that person alone.”
Byron Pulsifer
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.”
Harvey Fierstein
“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
“My encouragement: delete the energy vampires from your life, clean out all complexity, build a team around you that frees you to fly, remove anything toxic, and cherish simplicity. Because that’s where genius lives.”
Robin S. Sharma
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.”
Malcolm S. Forbes
“Because at some point you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart but not in your life.”
Sandi Lynn
“Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“Don’t sacrifice yourself too much, because if you sacrifice too much there’s nothing else you can give, and nobody will care for you.”
Karl Lagerfeld
“Relationships end, but they don’t end your life.”
Steve Martin
“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
“The people in your life will either help you shake hands with yourself or they’ll teach you what you don’t want. Everyone, eventually, does one or the other. All pain transforms to learning. All love transforms to self-awareness.”
Vironika Tugaleva
“You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.”
Louise L. Hay
“If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too. Do not overestimate the competition and underestimate yourself. You are better than you think.”
T. Harv Eker
“Be thankful for all the difficult people in your life and learn from them. They have shown you exactly who you do not want to be.”
Unknown
“When being in a toxic relationship in life at times you may have to step outside yourself, to see yourself, so you can find yourself and love yourself again.”
Angel Moreira
“Everybody has bad relationships, and, at the end of the day, they are just a great way to set yourself up for a good relationship.”
Anne Hathaway
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Entitlement is an expression of conditional love. Nobody is ever entitled to your love. You always have a right to protect your mental, emotional, and physical well-being by removing yourself from toxic people and circumstances.”
Dr. Janice Anderson & Kiersten Anderson
“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”
Lao-Tzu
“I’ve found the most tragic aspect of losing loved ones wasn’t the big boom of the fallout, but realizing later how much healthier I was without them.”
Maggie Young
“Never rely on another person to make you feel whole.”
Karen Salmansohn
“What’s broken is broken—and I’d rather remember it as it was than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.”
Margaret Mitchell
“Did your mom ever tell you, ‘If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything’? She was right–and talking nicely also applies when you’re talking to yourself, even inside your head.”
Victoria Moran
“Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do our own?”
Brigham Young
“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”
Maya Angelou
“Don’t waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.”
Nido Qubein
“You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months overanalyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened… or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move on.”
Tupac Shakur
“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.”
Martin Luther King Jr
“Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
Albert Einstein
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
Steve Jobs
“Letting go helps us to live in a more peaceful state of mind and helps restore our balance. It allows others to be responsible for themselves and for us to take our hands off situations that do not belong to us. This frees us from unnecessary stress.”
Melody Beatti
“Letting go may sound so simple, but rarely is it a one-time thing. Just keep letting go, until one day it’s gone for good.”
Eleanor Brownn
“Let go. 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
“You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”
Jan Glidewell
“Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.”
Napoleon Hill
“It is never too late to be what you might have been.”
George Eliot
If you want more advice that will help you to let go and begin again without toxic friends, a family member that drags you down mentally or other poisonous people then you may find these quotes on new beginnings + my 5 favorite tips for a fresh start helpful.