Toxic relationships are dangerous for your physical and mental health.
However, even though you know that they aren’t good for you, it can be hard to move on when you still have feelings for your partner.
These toxic relationship quotes will help you to understand the signs of a toxic relationship and its real consequences.
As hard as it is to be in it, leaving can be even harder. You must do it, though, because there is something better for you out there. You deserve so much more than toxic love.
Here is a collection of motivational quotes to help you make the right decision and begin to love yourself more.
You need to know your worth and never settle for less.
Famous quotes about toxic relationships
1. “Do not hold your breath for anyone. Do not wish your lungs to be still. It may delay the cracks from spreading, but eventually they will. Sometimes to keep yourself together, you must allow yourself to leave,even if breaking your own heart is what it takes to let you breathe.” ― Erin Hanson
2. “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
3. “That’s the thing about toxic relationships. They aren’t always toxic. They give us moments of happiness that we wish would last a lifetime. Those are the moments we cling onto. You convince yourself that there is enough love, underneath all of the chaos and mayhem you created in each other’s lives. You tell yourself that maybe there’s enough love left to make things work. And this made you question every little thing, including yourself. Maybe it wasn’t just him that was toxic. Maybe I was toxic to myself by continually opening the same closed doors, very well knowing there was nothing good behind them.” ― Finding Bohemia
4. “Some people are just ‘diminishers’ and ‘spoilers’ for others. I suppose almost everybody diminishes someone. A saint would be nobody’s spoiler.” ― Iris Murdoch
5. “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
6. “The scars from mental cruelty can be as deep and long-lasting as wounds from punches or slaps but are often not asobvious. In fact, even among women who have experienced violence from a partner, half or more report that the man’s emotional abuse is what is causing them the greatest harm.” ― Lundy Bancroft
7. “Problems in relationship occur because each person is concentrating on what is missing in the other person.” ― Wayne Dyer
8. “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
9. “Turn your wounds into wisdom.” — Oprah Winfrey
10. “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
11. “The wrong person isn’t breaking their back to make you happy. So, stop breaking your back for them.” — Sonya Parker
12. “The emotion that can break your heart is sometimes the very one that heals it.” — Nicholas Sparks
13. “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
14. “Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself.” ― Oprah Winfrey
15. “It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.” ― Steve Maraboli
16. “Poisonous relationships can alter our perception. You can spend many years thinking you’re worthless… but you’re not worthless, you’re unappreciated.” ― Steve Maraboli
17. “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
18. “Don’t confuse “familiar” with “acceptable”. Toxic relationships can fool you like that.” ― Steve Maraboli
19. “Just say NO to complicated, dead-end, unhealthy, and toxic relationships.” ― Stephanie Lahart
20. “Narcissists are very retaliative if they believe another has achieved what they desire, exposed their insecurities, or refused to be under their control.” ― Lorraine Nilon
21. “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
22. “The hardest part of being in an emotionally abusive relationship, it’s actually admitting you’re in one.” ― Anna Akana
23. “Sometimes it’s better to end something and try to start something new than imprison yourself in hoping for the impossible.” ― Karen Salmansohn
24. “The wise do not consider the chains and shackles of jail to be the toughest restraints. The chains of attachment are the strongest of the ties that bind.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh
25. “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
26. “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
27. “Toxic relationships are dangerous to your health; they will literally kill you. Stress shortens your lifespan. Even a broken heart can kill you. There is an undeniable mind-body connection. Your arguments and hateful talk can land you in the emergency room or in the morgue. You were not meant to live in a fever of anxiety; screaming yourself hoarse in a frenzy of dreadful, panicked fight-or-flight that leaves you exhausted and numb with grief. You were not meant to live like animals tearing one another to shreds. Don’t turn your hair gray. Don’t carve a roadmap of pain into the sweet wrinkles on your face. Don’t lay in the quiet with your heart pounding like a trapped, frightened creature. For your own precious and beautiful life, and for those around you — seek help or get out before it is too late. This is your wake-up call!” ― Bryant McGill
28. “We all have toxic people around us that make our lives miserable… The day we take them out of our lives, we will all become better people; including them…” ― Rodolfo Peon
29. “May you reach that level within, where you no longer allow your past or people with toxic intentions to negatively affect or condition you.” ― Lalah Delia
30. “If you’re in a relationship and all you do is cry, you need to stop and ask yourself, are you dating a human or an onion?” — Karen Salmansohn
31. “You create more space in your life when you turn your excess baggage to garbage.” ― Chinonye J. Chidolue
32. “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.
33. “Toxic relationships are like a good pasta that has been overcooked.” ― Asa Don Brown
34. “Sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.” ― Eckhart Tolle
35. “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
36. “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
37. “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.
38. “It’s better to be healthy alone than sick with someone else” ― Phil McGraw
39. “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
40. “We teach people how to treat us.” ― Dr. Phil
41. “It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.” ― George Washington
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
44. “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
45. “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
46. “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
47. “The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships.” ― Anthony Robbins
48. “Staying in an unhealthy relationship that robs you of peace of mind, is not being loyal. It is choosing to hurt yourself mentally, emotionally, and sometimes, physically.” ― Kemi Sogunle
49. “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
More quotes on toxic relationships
1. “If you are not happy with your relationship and it’s becoming too much to handle, you may already know the ugly truth.” ― Unknown
2. “Sometimes we hesitate because all the efforts we put in the relationship would be wasted once we call it off.” ― Unknown
3. “You can’t change someone who doesn’t see an issue in their actions.” ― Unknown
4. “You don’t ever have to feel guilty about removing toxic people from your life.” ― Unknown
5. “You have to speak to be heard, but sometimes you have to be silent to be appreciated.” ― Unknown
6. “Sometimes you have to accept the truth and stop wasting time on the wrong people.” ― Unknown
7. “You can’t fight for a place in someone’s life because no matter how hard you try to keep your place, they’ll put you where they want to even if it’s not where you should be.” ― Unknown
8. “Sometimes your heart needs more time to accept what your mind already knows.” ― Unknown
9. “The problem with getting attached to someone, when they leave, you just feel lost.” ― Unknown
10. “If you feel wrong about your current relationship, it may not necessarily be toxic. But it is definitely not healthy.” ― Unknown
11. “I am a strong believer that a bad relationship must be brought to an end, no matter how.” ― Unknown
12. “When you get into a bad relationship the best thing you can do is get out of it as soon you can.” ― Unknown
13. “The death of one relationship always starts with small arguments and then suspicions.” ― Unknown
14. “Relationships end, but they don’t end your life. But people do often spend more time finding out about failed relationships than finding successful ones.” ― Unknown
15. “Staying clear of damaging toxic relationships is an act of self-love.” ― Unknown
16. “If your partner makes you lose your friends, family, self-esteem, happiness, and confidence, then you should lose him.” ― Unknown
17. “Never date someone who makes pain a side effect of love.” ― Unknown
18. “The moment you start to wonder that you deserve a better person in life. You actually do.” ― Unknown
19. “Break free of toxic people and relationships, they erode your quality of life.” ― Unknown
Quotes about toxic family relationships
1. “The more dysfunctional, the more some family members seek to control the behaviour of others.” ― David W. Earle
2. “Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it’s the place where we find the deepest heartache.” ― Lyanla Vansant
3. “Toxic mothers always remain the strangest, craziest people we’ve ever met.” ― Marguerite Duras
4. “My toxic mother can only intimidate me if I let her. While she’s busy trying to bully the child me, the adult me can reject her, ignore her or report her to authorities.” ― Rayne Wolf
5. “Sometimes, loving your toxic mom and sending her sweet love letters reminding her that you will always be her dear child and always love her no matter what form a distance can be the best revenge to help your toxic mom come to her senses.” ― Unknown
6. “Sometimes, it’s necessary to temporarily distance yourself physically from toxic family members for the sake of your well being if they prove to be too toxic to be around them.” ― Unknown
7. “If the family you choose before your birth no longer supports your path towards fulfilling your true destiny, it is never too late to find a new tribe.” ― Anthon St. Maarten
8. “Boys and girls of narcissistic mothers both have to deal with a deficit of maternal nurturing that their upbringing lacked.” ― Mark Bans
9. “All toxic mothers are more dangerous than absent fathers due to their contagious toxic energy which poisons your soul.” ― Unknown
10. “You don’t have to be a victim of the abuse that toxic parents subjected to you in your childhood. You can always break that cycle and start living happily again for your own future family and children.” ― Unknown
11. “Being surrounded by toxic parents can be the loneliest moments in your life as a child due to lack of connection and bonding between parents and child.” ― Unknown
12. “Just good mothers produce good and strong daughters with high self-esteem and self-worth, toxic and abusive moms produce toxic daughters with low self-image, worth, self-esteem and drama which they later import into their own future relationships.” ― Unknown
13. “Just as a bad or corrupt tree cannot produce good fruits, you can’t expect to be loved, valued and cherished by toxic mothers corrupted by their own toxicity from within.” ― Unknown
Letting go of toxic relationships quotes
1. “Letting go doesn’t mean giving up, but rather accepting that there are things that cannot be.” ― Unknown
2. “The best way to move forward is to let go of the people holding you back.” ― Unknown
3. “Removing toxic people from your life isn’t the difficult part. Not feeling guilty about it is.” ― Unknown
4. “And sometimes the fear of getting hurt stops us to take action. But only when you take off the blindfold can you see the light.” ― Unknown
5. “If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.” ― Ajahn Chah
6. “One of the simplest ways to stay happy is by letting go of the things that make you sad.” ― Tinku Razoria
7. “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
8. “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh
9. “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
10. “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
11. “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
12. “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.
13. “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
14. “If you truly want to be respected by people you love, you must prove to them that you can survive without them.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson
15. “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
16. “Your time is way too valuable to be wasting on people that can’t accept who you are.” ― Turcois Ominek
17. “Letting go of toxic people is an act of self-care.” ― Karen Salmansohn
18. “The art is not one of forgetting but letting go. And when everything else is gone, you can be rich in loss.” ― Rebecca Solnit
19. “You will evolve past certain people. Let yourself.” ― Mandy Hale
Leaving a toxic and bad relationship is necessary for your personal growth and development.
No matter how hard you try, it’s hard to change a bad person or an unhealthy relationship.
There are some obvious warning signs and you must pay attention to them.
Once you get out of an abusive relationship, you’ll be able to see your full potential and your worth.
