Read on for my full list of the 120 best quotes for overthinkers.
In my role as a life coach, I am often helping clients with overthinking. That’s why I’m excited to share this list with you. So, let’s dive in.
I Am An Overthinker Quotes
- “My father taught me not to overthink things, that nothing will ever be perfect, so just keep moving and do your best.” – Scott Eastwood
- “Sometimes you’re overthinking, you convince yourself to get out of it and you’re like, ‘Ah I shoulda did that!’ You can’t live life with regrets.” – Michael B. Jordan
- “I admire the linear and decisive way a certain kind of man thinks, to my curlicue boundless overthinking.” – J. Courtney Sullivan
- “Everything is too easy. If you want to record a song, you can buy Pro Tools and record four hundred guitar tracks. That leads to overthinking, which kills any spontaneity and the humanity of the performance.” – Jack White
- “I have found that sometimes I do better working on a crazy schedule. It gives me less time to overthink things and forces me to be present.” – Torrey DeVitto
- “I have to remind myself, stop thinking about the future. Stop thinking about what happened at work today, or another choice you could have made.” – Anna Gunn
- “The downside of being a writer is you get plenty of time to overthink your life.” – Don Miller
- “When you’re put in an unfamiliar situation, all you want to do is retreat and hide by default. You watch but don’t participate. You listen but don’t respond. You read, but rarely comment. You take a photo, but you rarely post. You write, but you rarely publish. All of this is because your overthinking mind cannot stop thinking about how you will be perceived by the outside world.” – Joel Annesley
- “You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” – Tina Fey
- “You take a photo, but you rarely post. You write, but you rarely publish. All of this is because your overthinking mind cannot stop thinking about how you will be perceived by the outside world.” – Joel Annesley
- “Thinking has, many a time, made me sad, darling; but doing never did in all my life.” – Elizabeth Gaskell
- “I have realized sometimes I do better working under a crazy schedule. It gives me less time to overthink things and forces me to be present.” – Torrey DeVitto
Related: 11 Proven Ways Of Emptying Your Mind
Short Quotes About Overthinking
- “Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.” – Buddha
- “Less thinking, more living.” – S.R. Crawford
- “Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.” – Robert Eliot
- “Stop thinking, and end your problems.” – Lao Tzu
- “Overthinking is parasitic. It’s viral. It’s deadly, even.” – Genereux Philip
- Sometimes the worst place you can be is in your own head.” – Unknown
- “Our anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.” – Kahlil Gibran
- “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King
- “Don’t brood. Get on with living and loving. You don’t have forever.” – Leo Buscaglia
- “If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.” – Dean Smith
- “Overthinking, also, best known as creating problems that are never there” – David Sikhosana
- “Overthinking ruins moods and kills good vibes.” — Supa Nova Slom
- “You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.” – Dan Millman
- “Overthinking is often a product of undergoing.” — Yehuda Berg
- “Thinking will not overcome fear, but action will.” — W. Clement Stone
- A crowded mind, Leaves no space, For a peaceful heart.” — Christine Evangelou
- “Stop thinking, and end your problems.” — Lao Tzu
- “To think too much is a disease.” – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- “It’s always the mind that needs quietening and the heart that needs listening to.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru
- “Don’t keep things bottled up. It’s not good for you.” – Kody Keplinger
- “The more you overthink the less you will understand.” – Habeeb Akande
- “Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.” – Napoleon Hill
- “If you’re stressing over happiness, you’re doing it wrong!” – Shannon L. Alder
- “Thinking will not overcome fear but action will.” – W. Clement Stone
- “Stop overthinking. You can’t control everything, just let it be.” – Unknown
- “Worrying is like paying a debt you don’t owe.” – Mark Twain
- “If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” – Amit Ray
- “A mistake in judgment isn’t fatal, but too much anxiety about judgment is.” – Pauline Kael
- “Stop overthinking, put more energy on what you really want to do.” – Amit Ray
- “A negative mind will never give you a positive life.” – Unknown
- “The past is good to learn from but not live in.” – Karen Salmansohn
- “Overthinking: the art of creating problems that weren’t even there.” – Unknown
- “Your addiction to thinking will come back to haunt you.” – Natsume Soseki
Related: BEST Ways – How To Be A Quick Thinker
Useful Quotes About Overthinking
- “In a moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing to do, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
- “If you have fear of some pain or suffering, you should examine whether there is anything you can do about it. If you can, there is no need to worry about it; if you cannot do anything, then there is also no need to worry.” – Dalai Lama
- “Most of us never stop to consider our blessings; rather, we spend the day only thinking about our problems.” – Bernie Siegel
- “Don’t think. it complicates things. Just feel, and if it feels like home then follow its path.” – R.M. Drake
- “You know, it is a little known fact that thinking is entirely overrated. The world would be a much better place if we all did a lot less of it.” – Laurie Viera Rigler
- “No amount of anxiety makes any difference to anything that is going to happen.” – Alan Watts
- “When you begin to worry, go find something to do… worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem.” – Joyce Meyer
- ”Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.” – Brian Tracy
- “Don’t get too deep, it leads to over thinking, and over thinking leads to problems that doesn’t even exist in the first place.” – Jayson Engay
- “Thinking too much just brings it back to me, me, me—but thanking takes my eyes off myself and my mistakes and puts them on others, on things bigger than myself. I can’t stand here very long without being humbled at how small I am and amazed at how big and beautiful our world is.” – Elizabeth Musser
- “Trust the still, small voice that says, “this might work and I’ll try it.” – Diane Mariechild
- “It’s a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life.” – Paulo Coelho
- “A great many worries can be diminished by realizing the unimportance of the matter which is causing anxiety.” – Bertrand Russell
- “We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them” – Albert Einstein
- “Although difficult, change is always possible. What holds us back from making the changes we desire are our own limiting thoughts and actions.” – Satsuki
- “The main things to rebel against – over-production, too much technology, overthinking.” – Jack White
- “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” – William James
- “Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it.” – Brian Tracy
- “Doing something that is productive is a great way to alleviate emotional stress. Get your mind doing something that is productive.” – Ziggy Marley
- “The best way to stop overthinking is conscious micro-action meditation.” – Amit Ray
- “Do not look into the void of uncertainty trying to predict each and every possible outcome, to evaluate every possible mistake, to prevent each possible failure. Look for the opportunity to leap, and leap faster than your fear can grab you.” – Vironika Tugaleva
- “You can come out of the repetitive thought patterns by witnessing the thinker inside you. Witnessing will give you the state of “no-mind” -the state of deep inner connectedness. Gradually, you move into the state of pure being - the state of pure consciousness.” ― Amit Ray
- “Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, “’What else could this mean?’” ― Shannon L. Alder
Related: 31 Signs You Are A Deep Thinker – Pros & Cons
Inspirational Overthinking Quotes
- “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
- “My mother said the cure for thinking too much about yourself was helping somebody who was worse off than you.” – Sylvia Plath
- “Remember, the talking about the thing isn’t the thing. Doing the thing is the thing.” – Amy Poehler
- “Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “A year from now you may wish you had started today.” – Karen Lamb
- “The nearer a man comes to a calm mind the closer he is to strength.” – Marcus Aurelius
- “You can’t change who you are, but you can change what you have lin your head, you can refresh what you’re thinking about, you can put some fresh air in your brain.” – Ernesto Bertarelli
- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain
- “Put your thoughts to sleep. Do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking.” – Rumi
- “You can’t change who you are, but you can change what you have in your head, you can refresh what you’re thinking about, you can put some fresh air in your brain.” — Ernesto Bertarelli
- “Stop worrying about what can go wrong, and get excited about what can go right.” – Unknown
- “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs
- “Overthinking will not empower you over things that are beyond your control. So, let it be if it is meant to be and cherish the moment.” – Mahsati A
- “Now that your worry has proved such an unlucrative business, Why not find a better job?” – Hafez
- “Always make sure your optimistic thoughts wildly out number your fears and regrets.” – Karen Salmansohn
- “You gotta stop worrying, wondering, and doubting. Have faith that things will work out, maybe not how you planned, but just how it’s meant to be.” – Drake
- “You will never be free until you free yourself from the prison of your thoughts.” – Philip Arnold
Related: Ways To Overcome Shallow Thinking
Funny Overthinking Quotes
- “Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere.” – Erma Bombeck
- “It is better to hug a tree than to bang your head against a wall continually.” – Rasheed Ogunlaru
- “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.” – Hamlet
- “This is probably the advantage of being stupid. Stupid people just do. We tend to overthink. If we could eliminate the “over” and just think, then we could do, too. Only we’d be smarter doers because we’d be thinkers.” – Sarah Strohmeyer
- “Only about two percent of one percent of our thoughts deserve to be taken seriously.” – Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “If overthinking burned calories, I’d be a supermodel.” – Unknown
Related: Concrete Thinking – 17 Important Facts
Sad Overthinking Quotes
- “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.” – Winston Churchill
- “The sharpest minds often ruin their lives by overthinking the next step, while the dull win the race with eyes closed.” — Bethany Brookbank
- “Thinking too much leads to paralysis by analysis. It’s important to think things through, but many use thinking as a means of avoiding action.” – Robert Herjavek
- “Overthinking can lead to worrying which leads to anxiety. Anxiety can at times be crippling, leave people frozen and unable to act” – Brien Blatt
- “I think and think and think, I’ve thought myself out of happiness one million times, but never once into it.” – Jonathan Safran Foer
- “We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It’s a death trap.” — Sir Anthony Hopkins
- “While you were overthinking, you missed everything worth feeling.” – Nitya Prakash
- “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems.” – Epictetus
- “Nothing in life is more remarkable than the unnecessary anxiety which we endure, and generally create ourselves.” – Benjamin Disraeli
- “It has been well said that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” – Charles Spurgeon
- ”People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” – George Bernard Shaw
- “The more I think about it, the more I realize that overthinking isn’t the real problem. The real problem is that we don’t trust.” – L.J. Vanier
- “Overthinking ruins you. It ruins the situation. And it twists things around. It makes you worry. Plus it just makes everything worse than it actually is.” – Karen Salmansohn
- “There is nothing in this world that can trouble you as much as your own thoughts.” – Unknown
- “When you’ve had a life of overthinking, you have the same reaction time and time again. Shyness becomes habitual.” – Joel Annesley
- “Overthinking makes you dwell in the past and immerse yourself in worries and fears, instead of living in the present and acting in the present.” – Unknown
- Over thinking ruins you. Ruins the situation, twists things around, makes you worry and just makes things much worse than it actually is.” — Unknown
- “We drink the poison our minds pour for us and wonder why we feel sick.” – Atticus
Quotes About Overthinking In A Relationship
- “Grandma once told me it’s easy to overthink love, to dissect it and question it until it is no more.” — Ellen Hopkins
- “You break your own heart by overthinking it.” – Unknown
- “Overthinking ruins friendships and relationships. Overthinking creates problems you never had. Don’t overthink, just overflow with good vibes.” – Unknown
- “Don’t overthink things. Sometimes you can convince your head not to listen to your heart. Those are the decisions you regret for the rest of your life.” — Leah Braemel
Related: How To Stop Overthinking In A Relationship
Quotes About Overthinking At Night
- “If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.” – Dale Carnegie
- “My mind decides to run when normal people sleep.” – Unknown
- “Every time the days morphed into night, my mind spun around like a carousel. What was it about the night that made people overthink everything?” – Morgan Lee Miller
- “My nights are for overthinking. My mornings are for oversleeping.” – Unknown
- “A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow.” – Charlotte Bronte
- “Dear mind, please stop thinking so much at night. I need sleep.” – Unknown
- “I find the nights long, for I sleep but little, and think much.” – Charles Dickens
Frequently Asked Questions About Overthinking
Let’s round off this article with the answers to some frequently asked questions about overthinking.
What To Say About Overthinking?
If you want to stop overthinking, get out of your own head and stop sweating over the small stuff, the best thing to do is admit out loud when you realize you’re thinking too much. Your friends and family will most likely encourage you to make a decision and go with it. Often, they’ll allow you to realise that you already know the best thing to do.
From there, the best step is to follow your heart with a positive mindset.
Is Overthinking A Disorder?
Overthinking is not officially recognised as a mental health disorder by itself, although it’s recognised as a common symptom of mental health problems such as depression or anxiety. Overthinking leads to poor mental health in many cases though, as many of the quotes above suggest.
Related: A Person Who Thinks All The Time – 6 Ways To Coach Yourself
Are Overthinkers Good?
It’s good to think things through and not dive recklessly into serious situations. However, overthinking often leads one to swing back and forth like a rocking chair without taking any action. Those who eventually dive in do so with the same reaction time as a three-legged turtle. This can lead to a lot of missed opportunities and that is clearly not a good thing.
How Do You Comfort An Overthinker?
A lot of overthinking stems from a lack of confidence or self-belief. So, the best way to comfort an overthinker is often to convince them that they are smart enough to make a good decision.
When someone is confident in their abilities to take action, you’ll often find they get out of their own head, stop overthinking and quickly take the actions that lead them to happiness.
Any Questions About These Quotes For Overthinkers?
Thanks for reading my list of overthinking quotes. I hope they help you to stop overthinking.
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Also, please do post your own favorite overthinking quotes in the comments section below.
It would be great to hear from you.