135 Helpful Bad Relationship Quotes About Moving On (2022)

One of the hardest parts of a bad relationship can be moving on afterward, but these bad relationship quotes should give you a bit of motivation. Share the quote that motivates you to move on in the comments below.

Keep reading to see our inspirational quotes about bad relationships to hopefully inspire you to break free of yours.

Reading these motivational words and heart break quotes could be the crucial first step you need to take to make a change in a more positive direction.

Often, we needed the right inspiration, support, or that little push, to help us close that chapter.

It can help to read the words of others who have been in similar situations before us, or to know that these feelings will pass.

Perhaps the most meaningful is to see others who have successfully moved on and been the better for it.

In that vein, here are some inspirational, wise, and eye-opening bad relationship quotes, bad relationship sayings, and bad relationship proverbs, collected from a variety of sources over the years.

The best bad relationship quotes and sayings 

1. “It happens to everyone as they grow up. You find out who you are and what you want, and then you realize that people you’ve known forever don’t see things the way you do. So you keep the wonderful memories, but find yourself moving on.” – Nicholas Sparks

2. “You must make a decision that you are going to move on. It won’t happen automatically. You will have to rise up and say, ‘I don’t care how hard this is, I don’t care how disappointed I am, I’m not going to let this get the best of me. I’m moving on with my life.’” – Joel Osteen, ‘Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential’

3. “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’

4. “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.

5. “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

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

7. “Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?” – Mary Manin Morrissey

8. “Lots of things can be fixed. Things can be fixed. But many times, relationships between people cannot be fixed, because they should not be fixed. You’re aboard a ship setting sail, and the other person has joined the inland circus, or is boarding a different ship, and you just can’t be with each other anymore. Because you shouldn’t be.” – C. JoyBell C.

9. “Girls you’ve gotta know when it’s time to turn the page.” – Tori Amos, ‘Tori Amos: From the Choirgirl Hotel’

10. “Grudges are for those who insist that they are owed something; forgiveness, however, is for those who are substantial enough to move on.” – Criss Jami, ‘Salomé: In Every Inch In Every Mile’

11. “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

Also check out these helpful divorce quotes that will lift you up when you’re feeling scared, confused, angry, or sad.

Toxic relationship quotes that are Painfully True

12. “It’s better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else” – Phil McGraw

13. “Sometimes we must undergo hardships, breakups, and narcissistic wounds, which shatter the flattering image that we had of ourselves, in order to discover two truths: that we are not who we thought we were; and that the loss of a cherished pleasure is not necessarily the loss of true happiness and well-being.” – Jean-Yves Leloup

14. “I mean, if the relationship can’t survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?” – Nicholas Sparks

15. “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

16. “Until you let go of all the toxic people in your life you will never be able to grow into your fullest potential. Let them go so you can grow.” – DLQ

17. “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

18. “One’s dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but it can never be taken away unless it is surrendered.” – Michael J. Fox

19. “We teach people how to treat us.” – Dr. Phil

20. “A relationship without trust is like a car without gas, you can stay in it all you want, but it won’t go anywhere.” – Unknown

21. “Maybe the most that you can expect from a relationship that goes bad is to come out of it with a few good songs.” – Marianne Faithfull

Also, check out these domestic violence quotes for support and strength.

Bad relationship quotes About Moving On

22. “It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.” – Steve Maraboli, ‘Life, the Truth, and Being Free’

23. “Sooner or later we’ve all got to let go of our past.” – Dan Brown, ‘Deception Point’

24. “Sometimes it takes heartbreak to shake us awake and 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 Sass’

25. “It was strange, really. A couple months ago, I had thought I couldn’t live without him. Apparently I could.” – Gabrielle Zevin, ‘Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac’

26. “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

27. “And perhaps there is a limit to the grieving that the human heart can do. As when one adds salt to a tumbler of water, there comes a point where simply no more will be absorbed.” – Sarah Waters, ‘The Little Stranger’

28. “To be bitter is to attribute intent and personality to the formless, infinite, unchanging and unchangeable void. We drift on a chartless, resistless sea. Let us sing when we can, and forget the rest…” – H.P. Lovecraft

29. “Make it a rule of life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it; it’s only good for wallowing in.” – Katherine Mansfield

30. “You don’t have to let that one thing be the thing that defines you.” – Jojo Moyes, ‘After You’

31. “The most difficult aspect of moving on is accepting that the other person already did.” – Faraaz Kazi

32. “Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.” – Robert Brault

33. “You will evolve past certain people. Let yourself.” – Mandy Hale, ‘The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass’

34. “I had to cease to mourn what could never be and make the most of what was possible. And I would begin doing that by trying to mend the hurts of the past.” – Cameron Dokey, ‘The Wild Orchid: A Retelling of The Ballad of Mulan’

35. “Even seasonal situations can bring with them lessons that last a lifetime. If the love doesn’t last, it prepares you for the one that will.” – Mandy Hale, ‘The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass’

36. “That’s all you can do in this world, no matter how strong the current beats against you, or how heavy your burden, or how tragic your love story. You keep going.” – Robyn Schneider, ‘Extraordinary Means’

Also, read these when it’s time to walk away quotes.

Toxic relationship quotes to help you handle dejection

37. “No partner in a love relationship… should feel that he has to give up an essential part of himself to make it viable.” – May Sarton

38. “It is far better to be alone than to be in bad company.” – George Washington

If you’re enjoying these quotes, check out our George Washington quotes from America’s first president.

39. “For lack of an occasional expression of love, a relationship strong at the seams can wear thin in the middle.” –Robert Breault

40. “Love cannot live where there is no trust.” – Edith Hamilton
If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of trust issues quotes that will help you understand the meaning of trust.

41. “How can I let you be a priority in my life, when I’m still an option in your life?” – Hussein Nishah

42. “A bad relationship can do that, can make you doubt everything good you ever felt about yourself.” – Dionne Warwick

43. “Relationships are supposed to make you feel good. Relationships are not supposed to make you feel bad.” – Laura Bowers

See more toxic relationship quotes

Bad relationship quotes to inspire and teach

44. “If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.” – Abraham Lincoln

45. “Professionalism makes work relationships healthy, foolishness and dishonesty erodes them.” – Ty Howard

46. “We are responsible for our own relationships, their success, their failures, the good times, the bad times. Take responsibility for creating the relationships that you desire.” – Sam Owen

47. “I am a strong believer that a bad relationship must be brought to an end, no matter how.” – Unknown

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

49. “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

50. It is better for someone to break your heart once by leaving your life, than for them to stay in your life and break your heart continually. – Terry Mark

Toxic relationship quotes to motivate you to find one that you desire

51. “Problems in relationship occur because each person is concentrating on what is missing in the other person.” – Wayne Dyer

If you’re enjoying this article, you might also like these break up quotes that will help you overcome the pain of separation.

52. “I think it is a bad relationship when you get blamed for the things that make you who you are.” – Unknown

53. “The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships.” – Anthony Robbins

54. “When you get into a bad relationship the best thing you can do is get out of it as soon you can.” – Unknown

55. “Relationships end, but they don’t end your life.” – Steve Martin

56. “You broke my trust, and that is something that cannot easily be given back at that.” – Unknown

57. “I think a relationship is like a shark. It has to constantly move forward or it dies.” – Woody Allen

58. “There is no reason to believe that a bad relationship can be fixed, sometimes you have to let go.” – Unknown

59. “I love to shop after a bad relationship. I don’t know. I buy a new outfit and it makes me feel better. It just does. Sometimes I see a really great outfit, I’ll break up with someone on purpose.” – Rita Rudner

60. “Love sometimes hurts when you’re not with the right person But, don’t give up loving.” – Unknown

61. “Learn to walk away from those who cause harm to you.” –  Malika E Nura

Don’t forget to also check out our collection of quotes about new beginnings and starting fresh.

Eye-opening bad relationship quotes

62. “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

63. “The death of one relationship always start with the small arguments and then the suspicions.” – Unknown

64. “The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much, and forgetting that you are special too.” – Ernest Hemingway

65. “Relationships end, but they don’t end your life. But people do often spending more time finding out about failed relationships than finding successful ones.” – Unknown

66. “And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” – Khalil Gibran

67. “Sometimes we just fall in love with the wrong people.” – Unknown

68. “If you’re giving your all and it’s not enough, you’re probably giving it to the wrong person.” – Unknown

69. “Now I believe it when people say love is blind… because I must have been blind to love a person like you.” –  Mitch Cuento

70. “Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”—Guy Finley

You might also like these I’m Sorry quotes for when you can’t find the right words.

More bad relationship quotes

71. “Whenever you’re in conflict with someone, there is one factor that can make the difference between damaging your relationship and deepening it. That factor is attitude.” – William James

72. “Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself.” – Oprah Winfrey

73. “If you were in a bad relationship and you meet someone new, you’re going to leave with your luggage. The next person is going to have to endure things that someone else causes.” – Curtis Jackson

74. “There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull: How do you hang on to someone who won’t stay? And how do you get rid of someone who won’t go?” – Danny DeVito

75. “Sometimes two people need to step apart and make a space between that each might see the other anew, in a glance across a room or silhouetted against the moon.” – Robert Breault

76. “In a relationship, when does the art of compromise become compromising?” – Sarah Jessica Parker

77. “We are born in relationship, we are wounded in relationship, and we can be healed in relationship.” – Harville Hendrix

78. “We were left with nothing because of a love like acid that ate its way through our entire family.” ― R.D. Ronald

79. “Relationships based on obligation lack dignity.” – Wayne Dyer

80. “Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, and don’t put up with people that are reckless with yours.” – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

You might also like these love quotes for him to help you make your man feel special.

Toxic relationship quotes to make you strong

81. “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

82. “Losing will not always amount to a loss, sometimes you have to lose those toxic relationships and bad habits to create a space for better things.”― Gift Gugu Mona

83. “You don’t know what’s right or wrong. You’ve been told ‘you’re crazy’ ‘you´re overreacting’ so many times you started to believe that’s the truth.”― Anna Akana

84. “We all have that 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

85. “Fire False Friends as early as possible. Do it before they dig out the dream seeds you’ve planted! The earlier, the better; the quicker, the safer!”― Israelmore Ayivor

86. “There are people who break you down by just being them. They need not do anything. Dissociate.”― Malebo Sephodi

87. “There are only two kinds of people who can drain your energy: those you love, and those you fear. In both instances it is you who let them in. They did not force their way into your aura, or pry their way into your reality experience.”― Anthon St. Maarten

88. “Sometimes you don’t get closure, you just move on.”― Karen Salmansohn

89. “Forgiveness is a personal process that doesn’t depend on us having direct contact with the people who have hurt us.”― Sharon Salzberg

90. “Sometimes it’s better to end something & try to start something new than imprison yourself in hoping for the impossible.”― Karen Salmansohn

91. “You create more space in your life when you turn your excess baggage to garbage.”― Chinonye J. Chidolue

92. “I felt an inner peace and softness. My Berlin Wall had been cracked; the toxic relationship between me and that critical voice had been severed.”― Penny De Villiers

93. “You fell in love with my flowers but not my roots, so when Autumn arrived you didn’t know what to do.” – Unknown

94. “It is really exhausting to live in a dictatorship of ‘Me’, which is basically a tyranny of others.”― Stefan Molyneux

95. “If someone keeps bringing you down, perhaps it’s time to get up and leave.”― Karen Salmansohn

If you’re in search of uplifting disappointment quotes about life, work, and love, then these inspirational words will serve you well.

More bad relationship quotes

96. “When you get out of it, you realize how toxic it actually was.” – Steve Maraboli

97. “Sometimes trying to fix them, breaks you.” – Steve Maraboli

98. “The creative process is lost in a toxic environment. The risk of staying is too great because in it you may never reach your full destiny.” – Germany Kent

99. “The hardest part of being in an emotionally abusive relationship, it’s actually admitting you’re in one.” – Anna Akana

100. “Just say no to complicated, dead-end, unhealthy, and toxic relationships.” – Stephanie Lahart

101. “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

102. “Toxic relationships are like a good pasta that has been overcooked.” – Asa Don Brown

103. “Sometimes the hardest part isn’t letting go but rather learning to start over.” – Nicole Sobon

For additional reading, be sure to also check out these letting go quotes for finally moving on.

104. “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

105. “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 Alder

You might also like these sad love quotes on pain, love and friendship.

Bad relationship quotes to help you love again

106. “Don’t force together pieces that won’t fit.”  — Unknown

107. “You gotta stop watering dead plants.” — Unknown

108. “A wrong relationship will make you feel more alone than when you were single.” — Unknown

109. “I went to war for what we had. You never even laced your boots.” — Unknown

110. “Your relationship should be a safe haven, not a battlefield. The world is hard enough already.” — Unknown

111. “You learn more about someone at the end of a relationship than at the beginning.” — Unknown

112. “Just because you want it doesn’t mean it’s for you. Letting go doesn’t always equate to losing.” — Unknown

113. “People hold on to the wrong person because they think that person has the potential to be a better person.” — Sonya Parker

114. “You don’t let go of a bad relationship because you stop caring about them. You let go because you start caring about yourself.” — Charles Orlando

115. “Bad relationships are like a bad investment. No matter how much you put into it, you’ll never get anything out of it. Find someone that’s worth investing in.” — Unknown

Bad relationship quotes to help get you through tough times

116. “Assumptions are the termites of relationships.” — Henry Winkler

117. “Nostalgia has a way of blocking the reality of the past.” ― Shannon L. Alder

118. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” — Maya Angelou

119. “Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.” — Bob Marley

120. “Letting go of toxic people in your life is a big step in loving yourself.” — Hussein Nishah

121. “If you love someone, set them free. If they come back they’re yours; if they don’t they never were.” — Richard Bach

122. “Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.” — Hugh Mackay

123. “Spend your time with those who love you unconditionally, not with those who only love you under certain conditions.” ― Suzy Kassem

124. “It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.” — Theodore Roosevelt

125. “Don’t ask why people keep hurting you. Ask yourself why you keep allowing it to happen.” – Robert Tew

Bad relationship quotes that we can relate to

126. “If they do it often, it’s not a mistake; it’s just their behavior.” – Dr. Steve Maraboli

127. “Being single is smarter than being in the wrong relationship.” — Unknown

128. “Remove yourself from people who treat you like your time doesn’t matter like your feelings are worthless, or like your soul is replaceable.” – S. Mcnutt

129. “Relationships are like cooking, don’t waste effort on bad recipes!” — Unknown

130. “Sometimes you just have to be done. Not Mad, Not Upset, Just DONE.” — Unknown

131. “Break free of toxic people and relationships, they erode your quality of life.” — Ty Howard

132. “Being alone may scare you, but staying in a bad relationship will damage you.” — Unknown

133. “A bad relationship is like standing on broken glass, if you stay you will keep hurting…If you walk away, you will hurt but eventually you will heal.” — Autumn Kohler

134. “In any relationship where one person depends on another to be his or her ‘parachute’ — and the other accepts this role — both will fall to the ground.” — Guy Finley

135. “If you’re giving love and not receiving it, you’re not in the right relationship. If you’re receiving it and not giving it than you are taking advantage of the other person.” — Patti Stanger

How did you find these bad relationship quotes?

It’s alright to feel hesitant or even afraid to cut loose a relationship you know has gone sour. More so if you know you and your partner are already hurting one another. Everyone goes through these emotions, albeit in different situations.

A relationship gone badly doesn’t need to define you—or your happiness in the future. Through the tears, have hope that skies will clear up soon.

It may not be tomorrow, or the day after that. But soon, things will be better. After all, they say that a face full of smiles used to be filled with tears.

We hope these toxic relationship quotes have helped give you renewed strength and faith to keep moving forward.

Which of these bad relationship quotes and sayings resonated with you best? Do you have any other inspirational quotes to add? Tell us in the comment section below.