159+ Quotes about Smiling and Moving On from Hardship with Confidence

Sometimes in life, we all end up stuck in a rut. However, the right words can sometimes put our experiences in the right perspective and help us shift from neutral into drive. Surprisingly, sometimes you can move on from a loss and let go of the pain that’s holding you back from being happy again with the right quote.

If you want to reclaim your happiness, the first step is letting go of the past. Here are a few tips, quotes and captions that can help you get unstuck from painful memories and experiences.

Moving On Quotes

What direction will you go?

• “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.
• “Because you simply cannot draw these things out forever. At some point, you just pull off the Band-Aid and it hurts, but then it’s over and you’re relieved.”– John Green
• “But part of surviving is being able to move on.”– Alexandra Bracken
• “Change has to come for life to struggle forward.”– Helen Hollick
• “Even a rock moves on.”– Anthony Liccione
• “I have to get my life on track. Order as an antidote to chaos. Calm after the storm.”– Susane Colasanti
• “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”– Robert Frost

“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

• “It is always important to know when something has reached its end. Closing circles, shutting doors, finishing chapters, it doesn’t matter what we call it; what matters is to leave in the past those moments in life that are over.”– Paulo Coelho
• “It is important that we forgive ourselves for making mistakes. We need to learn from our errors and move on.”– Steve Maraboli
• “Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go.” – Hermann Hesse
• “Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to known when to let go and then do it.”– Ann Landers
• “Sooner or later we’ve all got to let go of our past.”– Dan Brown
• “The only thing a person can ever really do is keep moving forward. Take that big leap forward without hesitation, without once looking back. Simply forget the past and forge toward the future.”– Alyson Noel

“There comes a time in your life when you have to choose to turn the page, write another book or simply close it.”– Shannon L. Alder

• “There’s a trick to the Graceful Exit. It begins with the vision to recognize when a job, a life stage, a relationship is over — and to let go. It means leaving what’s over without denying its value.”– Ellen Goodman
• “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
• “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’ve got to make a conscious choice every day to shed the old — whatever ‘the old’ means to you.”– Sarah Ban Breathnach

Smiling and Moving on Quotes

The best is still ahead.

• “Don’t cry over the past, it’s gone. Don’t stress about the future, it hasn’t arrived. Live in the present and make it beautiful.”– Author Unknown
• “Every day is a new day, and you’ll never be able to find happiness if you don’t move on.”– Carrie Underwood
• “Get over it. Life isn’t supposed to be fair. Get over yourself, and be of service to others.”– Jonathan Lockwood Huie
• “I’ve been burdened with blame trapped in the past for too long, I’m moving on.”– Rascal Flatts
• “In order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did and why you no longer need to feel it.”– Mitch Albom
• “Keeping baggage from the past will leave no room for happiness in the future.”– Wayne L. Misner
• “Laughter gives us distance. It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on.”– Bob Newhart
• “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

“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

• “Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve, but you didn’t. So you move on.”
• “The great courageous act that we must all do, is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams.”– Oprah Winfrey
• “The secret of joy is the mastery of pain.”– Anaïs Nin
• “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
• “We need to learn to let go as easily as we grasp and we will find our hands full and our minds empty.”– Leo F. Buscaglia
• “When you are sorrowful look again in your own heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”– Kahlil Gibran
• “You clutch the past too tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present.”– Jan Glidewell

Moving on Quotes about Relationships

Moving on from a bad relationship can be difficult.

• “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
• “Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” – Steve Maraboli
• “Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.”– Denis Waitley
• “Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.”– Lewis B. Smedes
• “Getting over a painful experience is much like crossing monkey bars. You have to let go at some point in order to move forward.”– Author Unknown
• “I can choose to let it define me, confine me, refine me, outshine me — or I can choose to move on and leave them behind me.”– Author Unknown
• “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
• “I’m guilty of giving people more chances than they deserve but when I’m done, I’m done.”– Turcois Ominek

“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

• “Moving on doesn’t mean you forget about things, it just means you have to accept what happened and continue living.”– Erza Scarlet
• “My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and become capable of seeing the beauty of life once more. It’s happened before, it will happen again, I’m sure. When someone leaves, it’s because someone else is about to arrive. I’ll find love again.”– Paulo Coelho
• “Rejection is one of the worse forms of pain. Loss is the worst. Grief haunts until you allow yourself to move on.”– Angelica Hopes
• “Sometimes it takes a heartbreak to shake us awake and help us see we are worth so much more than we’re settling for.”– Mandy Hale
• “Sometimes we can only find our true direction when we let the wind of change carry us.” – Mimi Novic
• “Sometimes you can’t let go of the past without facing it again.”– Gail Tsukiyama
• “Take all the time you need to heal emotionally. Moving on doesn’t take a day, it takes lots of little steps to be able to break free of your broken self.”– Tere Arigo
• “The greatest win is walking away and choosing not to engage in drama and toxic energy at all.” – Lalah Delia
• “Time doesn’t heal emotional pain, you need to learn how to let go.”– Roy T. Bennett
• “Your heart’s strength is measured by how hard it holds on. Your self worth and faith is measured by finally letting go. However, your peace is measured by how long you don’t look back.”– Shannon L. Alder

Moving on Quotes for Men

Sometimes you need to end a relationship to grow.

• “Giving up doesn’t always mean you are weak; sometimes it means that you are strong enough to let go.”
• “I can’t go back I know, but if I could, would I really want to?”
• “I could have loved you once, and said it, but then you went away, and when you came back, love was a forgotten word, remember?”
• “I just broke up with someone and the last thing she said to me was “You’ll never find anyone like me again!” I’m thinking, “I should hope not! If I don’t want you, why would I want someone like you.”
• “I just need some space, to clear my head, to think about my life. With or without you.”

“I’ll never forget what you did to me and how you made me feel, but I will never let you know that I remember.”

• “If you can’t change your fate, change your attitude.”
• “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
• “Love can sometimes be magic; but magic can sometimes be an illusion.”

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• “Love has always been a game, but some people change the rules too much!”
• “Love is a gamble and we all love to play.”
• “Our relationship is over, but there were more smiles than tears so it was worth it.”
• “Someone wise once told me, when the pain of holding on is worse than the pain of letting go, it is time to let go.”

“Sometimes I lie awake, and I ask, ‘Where have I gone wrong?’ and then a voice says, ‘This is going to take more than one night.”

• “Sometimes I wonder if men and women really suit each other. Perhaps they should live next door and just visit now and then.” – Katherine Hepburn
• “We all love best not those who offend us least, nor those who have done most for us, but those who make it easy for us to forgive them, and who will forgive us.”
• “Yes, I do know how it feels to let go of someone you truly loved, but, yes, you do have to do it once in a while.”
• “You know what is the worst thing about being rejected? The lack of control. If I could only control the where and how of being dumped, it wouldn’t seem as bad.”

Moving on Quotes for Women

You deserve better.

• “Every day is a new day, and you’ll never be able to find happiness if you don’t move on.”
• “Forget what hurt you but never forget what it taught you.”
• “Getting knocked down in life is a given. Getting up and moving forward is a choice.”
• “I demolish my bridges behind me…then there is no choice but to move forward.”
• “I think that you never fall out of love with somebody, you just let go and move on.”
• “If you ever feel that you are no longer important to someone. Then leave their life silently.”

“If you want to fly on the sky, you need to leave the earth. If you want to move forward, you need to let go the past that drags you down.”

• “It is time to move on when your love for someone has left you worse, than the person you were when you found them.”
• “It’s tough to let go and move on from bad relationships, but so is every other good thing in life.”
• “Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.”
• “Never breakup without a reason and once you do, never look back.”
• “Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”
• “Sometimes it takes a heartbreak to shake us awake and help us see we are worth so much more than we’re settling for.”
• “Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.”

“Take all the time you need to heal emotionally. Moving on doesn’t take a day, it takes lots of little steps to be able to break free of your broken self.”

• “The most difficult aspect of moving on is accepting that the other person already did.”
• “The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realise that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.”
• “Walk away from a bad relationship before it makes you walk away from yourself.”
• “What’s done is done, what’s gone is gone, one of life’s lessons is always moving on. it’s OK to look back and think of fond memories but keep moving forward.”
• “You will never realise it’s over until you let go and move on.”

Moving on After Breakup Quotes

Breaking up is hard to do.

• “Last night I lost the world, and gained the universe.” – C. JoyBell C.
• “Girls you’ve gotta know when it’s time to turn the page.”– Tori Amos
• “Don’t tie your heart to a person that has nothing left to offer you. Let it go. It might hurt for a while, but when you get over it, you’ll see that it’s better.”– Orebela Gbenga
• “He nods, as if to acknowledge that endings are almost always a little sad, even when there is something to look forward to on the other side.”– Emily Griffin
• “If someone doesn’t care to accept you, respect you, believe in you, don’t hesitate to move on and let them go. There are many who love and appreciate you just the way you are.” – Amaka Imani Nkozasana
• “It was strange, really. A couple months ago, I had thought I couldn’t live without him. Apparently, I could.”– Gabrielle Zevin
• “It’s hard to be clear about who you are when you are carrying around a bunch of baggage from the past. I’ve learned to let go and move more quickly into the next place.” – Angelina Jolie

“Just because you miss someone doesn’t mean you need them back in your life. Missing is just a part of moving on.”– Mackelmore

• “Letting go means to come to the realization that some people are a part of your history, but not part of your destiny.” – Steve Maraboli
• “Maybe we tried to leave as much memories of ourselves with each other because we knew one day we wouldn’t be together any more.”– Makoto Shinkai
• “One of the best times for figuring out who you are and what you really want out of life? Right after a break-up.”– Mandy Hale
• “She took a step and didn’t want to take any more, but she did.”– Markus Zusak
• “Some birds are not meant to be caged, that’s all. Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild. So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly past you. And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices, but still, the place where you live is that much drabber and empty for their departure.”– Stephen King

“Sometimes the door closes on a relationship, not because we failed but because something bigger than us says this no longer fits in our life. So, lock the door, shed a tear, turn around and look for the new door that’s opened. It’s a sign that you’re no longer the person you were, it’s time to change into who you are. It’s going to be okay.”– Lee Goff

• “The bottom line is this; when one person stops being a part of your life, another one will come, and fill that empty space. Leave the ones who left in the past, right where they belong, and never look back.”– Ena Snow
• “There ain’t no way you can hold onto something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.”– Kate DiCamillo
• “When it comes to love and loss, acceptance is never easy. We can’t make someone see all we have to give, make them love us, or make them change. All we can do is move on and stop wasting time.”– April Mae Monterrosa
• “You can meet someone who’s just right, but he might not be meant for you. You break up, you lose things, you never feel the same again. But maybe you should stop questioning why. Maybe you should just accept it and move on.”– Winna Efendi
• “You will evolve past certain people. Let yourself.”– Mandy Hale

Moving Forward Quotes

The future looks good.

• “Be Brave and Take Risks. You need to have faith in yourself. Be brave and take risks. You don’t have to have it all figured out to move forward.”– Roy T. Bennett
• “Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today.”– Cherokee Indian Proverb
• “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 how learn 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
• “Get mad, then get over it.”– Colin Powell
• “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
• “I welcomed who I was and left behind who I was not.”– David Elliott
• “If you want to fly on the sky, you need to leave the earth. If you want to move forward, you need to let go of the past that drags you down.”– Amit Ray

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

• “Love yourself enough to move forward from whatever mistakes you may have made.”– Akiroq Brost
• “Moving on is easy. It’s staying moved on that’s trickier.”– Katerina Stoykova Klemer
• “Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.”– Guy Finley
• “Our scars make us who we are. Wear them proudly, and move forward.”– Jane Linfoot
• “Part of growing up is just taking what you learn from that and moving on and not taking it to heart.”– Beverly Mitchell
• “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.
• “The answer to every adversity lies in courageously moving forward with faith.”– Edmond Mbiaka
• “The art of letting go is art in its purest form.”– Meredith Pence
• “What’s done is done. What’s gone is gone. One of life’s lesson is always moving on. It’s okay to look back and think of fond memories but keep moving forward.”– Author Unknown
• “You can’t look back — you just have to put the past behind you, and find something better in your future.”– Jodi Picoult
• “You don’t have to let that one thing be the thing that defines you.”– Jojo Moyes

Moving on Quotes for Work

• “A bridge can still be built, while the bitter waters are flowing beneath.”
• “Anything you can’t control is teaching you how to let go.”
• “Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing that there’s a future.”
• “It’s not a matter of letting go – you would if you could. Instead of “Let it go” we should probably say “Let it be”.
• “Let go, or be dragged.”
• “Letting go is the willingness to change your beliefs in order to bring more peace and joy into your life.”
• “Letting go isn’t a one-time thing, it’s something you have to do every day, over and over again.”
• “Letting go means to come to the realization that some things are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.”
• “One of the happiest moments in life is when you find the courage to let go of what you cannot change.”
• “One of the most courageous decisions you’ll ever make is to finally let go of what is hurting your heart and soul.”
• “Sometimes holding on does more damage than letting go.”

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• “Sometimes people come into your life just to teach you how to let go.”
• “The only thing a person can ever really do is keep moving forward. Take that big leap forward without hesitation, without once looking back. Simply forget the past and forge toward the future.”
• “The reason why we can’t let go of things is because deep inside we still have hope.”
• “There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go.”
• “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need.”
• “When you let go you create space for something better.”
• “You only struggle because you’re ready to grow but aren’t willing to let go.”

Moving on Captions

Set a goal. Make a goal. Take massive action!

• A fresh start and a new look.
• A fresh start with loads of inspiration.
• A new beginning can be the best thing that ever happened to you.
• A new life is a beginning, not an end.
• A new life is all about building something better.
• A new start to a healthy future.
• I accept that this chapter is closed.
• I always need to remind myself that what I do matters.
• If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.
• If you wind down from a bad day with a little yoga, it’s like life gets balance.
• Inspire and motivation to start again.
• It is really exhausting to live in a dictatorship of ‘Me’, which is basically a tyranny of others.

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• Let go and live.
• Life is too short to get stuck in the same place.
• Make the difficult decision easier.
• Move on to the next chapter of your life.
• Move on, live anew.
• Moving on is about moving forward.
• Sometimes the hardest part isn’t letting go but rather learning to start over.
• The first step to a happy future is moving on.
• The world is your canvas. Use that canvas to make an art piece from nature.
• We are always changing, so why not start a new life?

Keep on Moving Slogans

• As we grow, we are moulded by the world around us.
• Even if you fall on your face, you’re still moving forward.
• Finish the past and move on.
• Get up and get out there.
• Giving a new meaning to the meaning of life.
• I moved on. Wake up, move on.
• I’m helping people take their next step.
• If your dreams and goals are big enough, they will come true.
• It’s easy to move on when you let go.
• It’s time to move on.
• Let’s start again, anew!
• Letting go is the first step.
• Live your best life.
• Move on now.
• Never forget to move on.
• Start over. You can do it.
• We are constantly changing.
• You are always a moment away from finding your happiest moments.
• You have the power to change your life.