50+ Burnout Quotes for When You Feel Drained, and Exhausted

Let’s be honest: sometimes you wake up and still feel completely drained, no matter how much you sleep. That kind of exhaustion isn’t just about being tired—it’s a sign you’ve been pushing yourself for too long without a break. Many people search for burnout quotes because they need to know they aren’t alone in this feeling. When you hit this point, your brain doesn’t think straight, your motivation drops, and you start looking for anything, maybe even a quote that helps you feel understood.

Below, I’ve put together some of the most helpful quotes I’ve found for dealing with burnout. These aren’t just words—they’re reminders that it’s okay to slow down and take care of yourself. Whether your stress comes from work or life in general, remember: taking a break isn’t a weakness, it’s necessary. Take a moment to read through these and give yourself permission to pause.

Feeling Burnout Quotes

• “Burnout is what happens when you try to avoid being human for too long.” – Michael Gungor

Many of us try to act like machines, forgetting that we need rest. If you keep pushing yourself too hard, your body will push back. Burnout isn’t just a buzzword; it’s what happens when you stop listening to your own limits. No one can avoid the physical and mental needs that come with being human.

• “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James

Stress can seem like an outside force, but it actually in our minds. We have the ability to focus less on what overwhelms us and more on what helps us to feel calm. When we choose where to put our attention, stress loses its grip. This change in thinking can affect how we handle any challenge.

• “You will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky

• “Burnout exists because we’ve made rest a reward rather than a right.” – Unknown

Today, many of us treat “rest” as something we must earn through working nonstop. When we view rest as a luxury, we naturally push ourselves until we are completely drained. However, our body requires rest to function properly. Burnout becomes inevitable when we ignore the fact that our mind and body need regular breaks to work well.

• “It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz

• “Burnout is a bone-tired, soul-tired, heart-tired, kind of exhaustion.” – J. Penner

• “He who hurries through life hurries to his grave.” – Seneca

Living in a state of constant rushing puts a lot of stress on your heart and mind. When we refuse to slow down, we ignore the warning signs that our body is reaching its limit. This reckless pace eventually leads to burnout or even a breakdown. A life without breaks is a fast track to self-destruction.

• “The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.” – Lao Tzu

Many people think that pushing ourselves as hard as possible is the only way to achieve our goals. Using all our energy at once leaves us drained for tomorrow. If we want the consistency to achieve our goals, we must understand that rest is a requirement. Without it, we eventually hit a wall of total exhaustion that stops our progress entirely.

• “Stress is the trash of modern life—we all generate it but if you don’t dispose of it properly, it will pile up and overtake your life.” – Danzae Pace

• “Burnout is nature’s way of telling you, you’ve been going through the motions your soul has departed.” – Sam Keen

• “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.” – Socrates

• “Exhaustion is not a status symbol.” – Brené Brown

• “Don’t burn yourself out trying to be everything to everyone.” – Arianna Huffington

• “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” – Lao Tzu

• “You are not required to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.” – Unknown

Emotional Burnout Quotes When You’re Drained

• “While burnout obviously has something to do with stress, overdoing things, not being centered, and not listening to yourself or your body, one of the deepest contributors to burnout, I believe, is the deep disappointment of not living up to your true calling, which is to help.” – Jenn Bruer

• “The No. 1 cause of burnout is doing the same thing over and over again and not seeing results.” – Steve Kaczmarski

• “It’s not stress that kills us; it is our reaction to it.” – Hans Selye

• “All stress, anxiety, depression, is caused when we ignore who we are, and start living to please others.” – Paulo Coelho

• “Burnout is a way of telling you that your form of activism was perhaps not very full circle.” – Gloria Steinem

When we throw ourselves into a cause or career, it’s easy to forget that we’re also part of the ecosystem we want to help. If we ignore our own needs and only chase outside goals, we end up in an unsustainable cycle. We can’t make a real impact if we’re running on empty. To do our best, our energy must flow both outward and inward.

• “Sometimes the worst place you can be is in your own head.” – Timothy Ferriss

When we’re tired, our thoughts can be our harshest critics. We might dwell on mistakes and replay stressful moments until they seem overwhelming. This mental cycle can create more pressure than anything outside us.

• “The best way out is always through.” – Robert Frost

• “If someone told me that I could live my life again free of depression provided I was willing to give up the gifts depression has given me–the depth of awareness, the expanded consciousness, the increased sensitivity, the awareness of limitation, the tenderness of love, the meaning of friendship, the appreciation of life, the joy of a passionate heart–I would say, ‘This is a Faustian bargain! Give me my life… all of it.” – Parker Palmer

• “But what happens when you work hard at something unfulfilling? It drains your spirit. It robs you of your life force. You end up depleted, depressed and angry.” – Oprah Winfrey

• “Nothing is worth your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.” – Steve Maraboli

Many of us focus on outward success and overlook our own well-being, even though our health is our greatest asset. When we allow stress and fear to take over, we effectively poison our daily lives. No achievement or deadline justifies the damage we do to our mental and physical bodies. We must realize that our health is more important than any task.

• “Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: It is easier to say ‘My tooth is aching’ than to say ‘My heart is broken.” – C.S. Lewis

• “Slow, deep breathing is important… It’s like an anchor in the midst of an emotional storm: the anchor won’t get rid of the storm, but it will hold you steady until it passes.” – Russ Harris

Work Burnout Quotes for Exhausted Minds

• “Burnout…occurs because we’re trying to solve the same problem over and over.” – Susan Scott

• “In an achievement-oriented society, freedom does not mean the absence of constraints; rather, it means choosing one’s constraints.” – Byung-Chul Han

We live in a world that constantly demands more from us, making it feel impossible to escape the pressure to perform. However, real freedom comes from when we decide which responsibilities we accept and which we reject. When we fail to choose our own limits, we end up letting outside demands control our lives.

• “It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about?” – Henry David Thoreau

• “Our worth is not determined by the amount of work we accomplish.” – Wayne Muller

• “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.” – Buddha

• “False optimism is like administrating stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.” – Sam Keen

If we try to stay positive when we are truly worn out, we can end up hurting ourselves even more. Forcing ourselves to be cheerful ignores the fact that our bodies need real rest, not extra stress. Pretending to be motivated might help for a moment, but it usually leaves us feeling even more tired. It’s better to recognize when we’re exhausted instead of covering it up with empty optimism.

• “Either you run the day, or the day runs you.” – Jim Rohn

• “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein

• “Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.” – Epicurus

• “Without work, all life goes rotten, but when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.” – Albert Camus

• “Leisure (mean free time) is only possible when we are at one with ourselves. We tend to overwork as a means of self-escape, as a way of trying to justify our existence.” – Josef Pieper

Many of us (including myself) fill our days with activities to avoid dealing with our own restlessness. We keep ourselves busy so we don’t have to face the things inside that actually need our attention. We use “work” to justify our existence, as if we don’t matter unless we’re constantly producing something.

• “Don’t just climb the ladder of success – a ladder that leads, after all, to higher and higher levels of stress and burnout – but chart a new path to success, remaking it in a way that includes not just the conventional metrics of money and power, but a third metric that includes well-being, wisdom, wonder and giving, so that the goal is not just to succeed but to thrive.” – Arianna Huffington

• “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard

Burnout Quotes About Life and Struggle

• “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” ― Maya Angelou

• “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

• “He who thinks great thoughts, often makes great errors.” – Martin Heidegger

When we set big goals, we also raise the chances of failing in a big way. It’s easy to forget that aiming high means taking bigger risks. If we want to push our limits, we need to accept that our mistakes might be as big as our wins.

•”Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.” ― Steve Maraboli

• “Stress is simply the adaptation of our bodies and minds to change.” – Peter G. Hanson

Most of us see stress as something bad that needs to be avoided. But in reality, stress is just your body’s way of responding to change. When life throws something new at you, your mind and body have to adjust, and that tension is simply part of the process. If you start looking at stress as a sign that you’re adapting, it stops feeling like a personal weakness and starts making sense as a normal part of life.

• “Stress is caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there.” – Eckhart Tolle

• “Happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. There’s going to be stress in life, but it’s your choice whether you let it affect you or not.” – Valerie Bertinelli

• “Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream.” – Jack Kerouac

• “I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy.” – Franz Kafka

• “When you are Angry, Be Silent.” – Bukhari

• “Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.” – Alan Watts

• “What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• “When we are no longer able to change a situation—we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor Frankl

• “The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of those depth” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Self Care Burnout Quotes for Healing

• “Just because you take breaks doesn’t mean you’re broken.” – Curtis Tyrone Jones

• “Taking care of yourself doesn’t mean me first, it means me too.” – L.R. Knost

Many of us think that taking care of ourselves is selfish. It can seem like we have to pick between helping others and helping ourselves, but that isn’t true. When we say “me too,” we remind ourselves that we deserve care just as much as anyone else.

• “In dealing with those who are undergoing great suffering, if you feel ‘burnout’ setting in, if you feel demoralized and exhausted, it is best, for the sake of everyone, to withdraw and restore yourself. The point is to have a long-term perspective.” – Dalai Lama

• “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

• “If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” – Jack Kornfield

Many of us think compassion is just for other people. We show patience to friends, but we can be hard on ourselves when we make mistakes. If we only show kindness to others, our empathy is incomplete.

We need to remember that we’re human too and deserve the same kindness we offer to everyone else.

• “Within you, there is a stillness and a sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” – Hermann Hesse

• “My friend…care for your psyche…know thyself, for once we know ourselves, we may learn how to care for ourselves.” – Socrates

• “Self-care means giving the world the best of you instead of what’s left of you.” – Katie Reed

• “Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.” – Christopher Germer

• “Sometimes asking for help is the most meaningful example of self-reliance.” – Cory Booker

lot of people think self-reliance means handling everything on your own, but that just leads to exhaustion. In reality, asking for help shows you know your limits and are serious about getting things done. It’s smarter to use the resources around you than to struggle alone.

• “Take your broken heart and turn it into art.” — Carrie Fisher

• “When you’re at peace with yourself and love your self, it is virtually impossible to do things to yourself that are destructive.” – Wayne Dyer

• “Be ambitious, not perfect. There comes a point when you’re fine just the way you are.” – Rutger Bregman

• “Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.” – Mark Black

• “The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” – Sydney J. Harris

Burnout Motivational Quotes to Keep You Going

• “Tough times never last. Tough people do.” – Robert Schuller

• “If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit.” – Banksy

When we feel overwhelmed, it’s easy to think about giving up. Sometimes, we confuse being tired with losing our passion or ability for good. Most of the time, the real issue isn’t our goal but how fast we’re trying to reach it. Taking a break helps us keep moving forward and regain our energy. It’s important to let ourselves pause without feeling like we’ve failed.

• “Procrastination (mean unnecessarily delaying) makes easy things hard, hard things harder.” – Mason Cooley

Delaying a task doesn’t make it disappear; it just adds the weight of guilt and anxiety to the work itself. What started as a simple task becomes a mental burden that drains our energy before we even begin. By putting things off, we turn manageable challenges into overwhelming obstacles. We end up fighting the clock instead of the task.

• “A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under pressure.” – Unknown

• “What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.” – Oscar Wilde

• “Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

• “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.” – Steve Jobs

• “It’s important that you don’t lie to yourself. If you lie to yourself, you end up with burnout.” – Zac Posen

• “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” – Helen Keller

• “Getting better from depression demands a lifelong commitment. I’ve made that commitment for my life’s sake and for the sake of those who love me.” – Susan Polis Schutz

• “I am thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have come across my strength.” – Alex Elle

• “Sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is rest.” – Mark Black

• “Being overwhelmed means that your life or work is overpowering you. Regain control by clarifying your intentions, setting realistic expectations, and focusing on your next step.” – Daphne Michaels

• “You will burn and you will burn out; you will be healed and come back again.” – The Brothers Karamazov

• “Burnout is a reminder that we can do a good job without doing ourselves in.” – Anne Wilson Schaef

Burnout serves as a hard lesson that productivity shouldn’t cost us our health. We often think that “doing a good job” requires total self-sacrifice, but that’s not true. We can be successful and dedicated without harming our well-being.

• “Give up the delusion that burnout is the inevitable cost of success” – Arianna Huffington

Many of us think working to the bone is the only way to succeed, but that’s a lie. You don’t have to trade your health for achievement. Once you stop treating burnout like a badge of honor, you’ll see that your performance actually improves because you aren’t running on empty.

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Why Burnout Happens?

Burnout happens when stress builds up for a long time, and you never get a proper break. At first, small pressures may feel manageable. However, over time, too much work, emotional fatigue, or constant worry can wear you down. When this continues without rest, your energy, focus, and motivation slowly disappear. In fact, research shows that burnout is linked to long-term stress, anxiety and unmet needs in work, life, and relationships. To learn more about common causes and signs, you can visit this helpful guide on burnout from the Mental Health America website.

Since burnout develops slowly, many people do not notice it right away. You might work even harder when you feel tired or ignore your feelings because you worry that resting will set you back. But this can make things worse. Over time, your body and mind may react in new ways. You might feel irritable, have trouble focusing, or feel less connected to your goals. These reactions are not signs of weakness. They are signals that you are overloaded and need to take care of yourself.

How do you recover from burnout?

Recovering from burnout starts with accepting that you can’t solve the problem by thinking the same way you did before. It’s important to stop pushing yourself and pay attention to your body’s need for rest. Set clear limits on your time and energy, especially when it comes to work and digital distractions. When you say no to extra tasks, you give your mind the space it needs to relax and recover.

Next, focus on small habits that help your body and mind recover. Getting enough sleep, eating healthy meals, and spending time outside can really help. Try not to turn recovery into another task you have to perfect. Instead, do things that truly make you happy, without worrying about being productive or doing everything right.

One more thing: don’t try to do this alone. Getting support is an important part of healing. Talking to a trusted friend or a therapist can make your struggles feel less heavy. It takes time to feel better, so be patient with yourself as you recover. Recovery isn’t always smooth, but each small step helps you build a life that feels more balanced and hopeful.

Final Thought

Recovery takes time, and by recognizing your feelings, you’ve already started. It’s easy to get caught up in daily routines and forget that your well-being is more important than constant work. We hope these burnout quotes reminded you that your exhaustion is real and that you deserve to rest. Let these words help you push back against the pressure to always do more.

As you go on, keep these quotes close for times when things feel tough again. Building a balanced life means being gentle with yourself and setting boundaries to protect your peace. You don’t have to solve everything today, just find one small way to rest.

Your worth isn’t based on how much you get done or what you achieve. Taking time to recover is not a waste; it’s an investment in yourself. Listen to what your body is telling you, and don’t let anyone make you feel guilty for putting your well-being first. Focus on building a life that actually feels right for you, not just one that looks impressive to others.

FomWise.

50+ Burnout Quotes for When You Feel Drained, and Exhausted

Feeling Burnout Quotes

Emotional Burnout Quotes When You’re Drained

Work Burnout Quotes for Exhausted Minds

Burnout Quotes About Life and Struggle

Self Care Burnout Quotes for Healing

Burnout Motivational Quotes to Keep You Going

The Latest Tips & News

Why Burnout Happens?

How do you recover from burnout?

Final Thought

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