Suicide is often perceived as the ultimate act of selfishness. People suffer gravely after such a tragic loss of a loved one. They keep thinking that had they done something more, that person wouldn’t have taken their own life. And the feeling of guilt haunts them.
However, suicide survivors rarely regret their actions. They confess that suicide was the only way of ending the pain they felt inside. Having that in mind, I gathered the most poignant suicide quotes I could find to shed light on what it feels like to go through such dark times that you want to do yourself in.
Hopefully, these quotes will illustrate that suicide is not the only way to get rid of your demons and that living is always the best policy.
The Most Touching Suicide Quotes That Raise Awareness of This Ever-Present Issue
Thought-Provoking Suicide Quotes
#1. “The language of love letters is the same as that of suicide notes.” — Courtney Love
#2. “Killing myself was a matter of such indifference to me that I felt like waiting for a moment when it would make some difference.” — Fyodor Dostoyevsky
#3. “Suicide is the punctuation mark at the end of many artistic careers.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
#4. “We cannot tear out a single page of our life, but we can throw the whole book in the fire.” — George Sand
#5. “Suicide only really frightens those who are never tempted by it and never will be, for its darkness only welcomes those who are predestined to it.” — Georges Bernanos
#6. “In the end, one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.” — Albert Camus
#7. “When people kill themselves, they think they’re ending the pain, but all they’re doing is passing it on to those they leave behind.” — Jeannette Walls
#8. “That’s the thing about suicide. Try as you might to remember how a person lived his life, you always end up thinking about how he ended it.” — Anderson Cooper
#9. “No one ever committed suicide while reading a good book, but many have tried while trying to write one.” — Robert Byrne
Eye-Opening Suicide Quotes to Help You Understand What It Is Like
#10. “All suicides have the responsibility of fighting against the temptation of suicide. Every one of them knows very well in some corner of his soul that suicide, though a way out, is rather a mean and shabby one and that it is nobler and finer to be conquered by life than to fall by one’s own hand.” — Hermann Hesse
#11. “The Suicide, as she is falling,
Illuminated by the moon,
Regrets her act, and finds appalling
The thought she will be dead so soon.” — Edward Gorey
#12. “We couldn’t imagine the emptiness of a creature who put a razor to her wrists and opened her veins — the emptiness and the calm.” — Jeffrey Eugenides
#13. “Razors pain you,
Rivers are damp,
Acids stain you,
And drugs cause cramp.
Guns aren’t lawful,
Nooses give,
Gas smells awful.
You might as well live.” — Dorothy Parker
#14. “Perhaps the saddest irony of depression is that suicide happens when the patient gets a little better and can again function sufficiently.” — Dick Cavett
#15. “Suicide creates a monstrous emotional upsurge of shame and guilt. Everyone participates in feeling responsible and even shamed at knowing the suicidal candidate. If these feelings are not healed, the vampire of suicidal death can strike again and again.” — Linda Lee Landon
#16. “No neurotic harbors thoughts of suicide which are not murderous impulses against others redirected upon himself.” — Sigmund Freud
Witty Suicide Quotes That Put a Comical Spin on This Somber Topic
#17. “Death is life’s way of telling you you’re fired. Suicide is your way of telling life you quit.” — Unknown
#18. “The great thing about suicide is that it’s not one of those things you have to do now or you lose your chance. I mean, you can always do it later.” — Harvey Fierstein
#19. “It is always consoling to think of suicide; that way, one gets through many a bad night.” — Friedrich Nietzsche
#20. “If a person with multiple personalities threatens suicide, is that considered a hostage situation?” — Steven Wright
#21. “There are many who dare not kill themselves for fear of what the neighbors will say.” — Cyril Connolly
#22. “I told my psychiatrist I was thinking of killing myself. He told me from now on, I had to pay in advance.” — Rodney Dangerfield
#23. “I tried to hang myself with a bungee cord. I kept almost dying.” — Steven Wright
#24. “He won’t kill himself. It would please too many people.” — Twentieth Century (movie)
#25. “When you’re young and healthy, you can plan on Monday to commit suicide, and by Wednesday, you’re laughing again.” — Marilyn Monroe
#26. “I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won’t.” — Susanna Kaysen
#27. “What fine weather today! Can’t choose whether to drink tea or to hang myself.” — Anton Chekhov
Quotes About Suicide That Persuade You to Go On
#28. “The most important thing you do every day you live is deciding not to kill yourself.” — Albert Camus
#29. “I came to a point in my life where I was like, ‘I can either just give up and f*cking die, or I can f*cking fight for what I want.’ And I chose to fight for what I wanted.” — Chester Bennington
#30. “It’s always darkest just before the dawn. So stay awake with me, let’s prove them wrong.” — Make It Stop, Rise Against
#31. “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” — Harriet Beecher Stowe
#32. “Suicide does not end the chances of life getting worse; suicide eliminates the possibility of it ever getting better.” — Kat Calhoun
#33. “Place your hand over your heart; can you feel it? That is called purpose. You’re alive for a reason, so don’t ever give up.” — Unknown
Final Thoughts
If you ask me, reading quotes is always therapeutic. And reading suicide quotes is no different. Hopefully, this collection has made you see that whatever burden is weighing you down, it is possible to turn a corner and heal.
Feel free to reread the quotes about suicide whenever you find yourself in such a dark place that even getting out of bed is too hard. Keep calm and keep on living!