25 Quotes On Overthinking (To Help You Stop)

In times of doubt, we turn to the words of the wise, and here are the top 25 quotes on overthinking and how you can apply each to an aspect of overthinking in your life….

25 Quotes On Overthinking To Help You Stop

Quieting Your Mind

When you overthink, your mind is constantly busy. Your mental chatter becomes so overwhelming that you can’t think, even though thinking is all you do. The first step to overcoming overthinking is to quiet your mind.

1. The best cure for the body is a quiet mind – Napoleon Bonaparte 

2. All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone – Blaise Pascal

3. The good and the wise lead quiet lives – Euripides

4. When you quiet your mind, you can enter a world of clarity, peace and understanding – Alice Coltrane

5. Worry is spiritual short sight. Its cure is intelligent faith – Paul Brunton

Acting Without Worry

Overthinking is like walking through thick syrup. You don’t make much progress forward, no matter how much your legs are running. When you act and leave worry for later, it’s like you manage to free yourself of the things that have held you back and slowed you down. Here we continue our quotes on overthinking, specifically about acting without worry.

6. Don’t worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon – John Madden

7. I never worry about action, but only inaction – Winston Churchill

8. By forgetting the past and by throwing myself into other interests, I forget to worry – Jack Dempsey

9. In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision – Dalai Lama

10. Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action – Benjamin Disraeli

Overthinking Is Exhausting

An athlete knows they should rest, but a worrier doesn’t. When you overthink endlessly, you are using up your mental stamina, and the result of that is brain drain or an exhaustion that can only be described as being soul tired. Here are some quotes on overthinking that talk about how exhausting it is.

11. Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment – Dale Carnegie

12. A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work – John Lubbock

13. My dad used to say, ‘You wouldn’t worry so much about what people thought about you if you knew how seldom they did’ – Phil McGraw

14. When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state – Swami Vivekananda

15. Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds! – Marcus Garvey

The Problem With Overthinking

Habitual overthinkers will often defend their right to engage in their addiction and tell you that overthinking is beneficial. Yet, you know that overthinking is a problem.  Here are some quotes on overthinking that talk about why it is such a problem.

16. Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength – Corrie Ten Boom

17. As a rule, men worry more about what they can’t see than about what they can – Julius Caesar

18. Most things I worry about never happen anyway – Tom Petty

19. Don’t worry so much. Most of the things you worry about never end up happening – Dick Van Dyke

20. Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans – John Lennon

Solving Overthinking and Worry 

All problems have solutions, even your overthinking. Your overthinking and constant worry can be wrapped up and soothed. All you need is mental presence in the now, a change of mental perspective, and faith in your ability to succeed. 

21. If you know how to worry, you know how to meditate. It means to think of something over and over – Joyce Meyer

22. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks – Regina Brett

23. ‘Worry’ is a word that I don’t allow myself to use – Dwight D. Eisenhower

24. The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness – Abraham Maslow

25. Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines – Robert H. Schuller

Giving Overthinking the Boot

Most of us do it: overthink. We think of something that worries us, and our brains run off like headless chickens, bouncing around the yard of our mind. We worry … a lot. We keep on thinking and rethinking endlessly, and finally, overthinking becomes endless worry.

While you may realize just how damaging worrying or overthinking is to your life, you probably don’t yet understand the extent to which your overthinking has dominated all of your energies. It has filled your life with nameless fears—which you are now worrying about, because you’re doing it again—you’re overthinking. Look at this study which actually talks about how overthinkers are more likely to abuse alcohol and other drugs.

You have the power to stop overthinking, and it’s up to you to make the change. These wise individuals in society have left you the words to guide you to inner peace. You can stop overthinking—it just takes change.