I’ve often shared the habits and techniques I use to handle Stress in my life.

But this week I’d like to do something different.

I’d like to share other people’s perspectives and quotes on stress.

And what to do about that stress so that you can live a healthier, more focused and confident and at the same time more relaxing life.

Here are 60 timeless thoughts on stress and how to handle it from the people who came before us (and some from people who are here with us now).

60 Helpful and Inspiring Quotes on Stress

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

“One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from a horse master. He told me to go slow to go fast. I think that applies to everything in life. We live as though there aren't enough hours in the day but if we do each thing calmly and carefully we will get it done quicker and with much less stress.”
– Viggo Mortensen

“Much of the stress that people feel doesn't come from having too much to do. It comes from not finishing what they've started.”
– David Allen

“In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.”
– Lee Iacocca

“Doing something that is productive is a great way to alleviate emotional stress. Get your mind doing something that is productive.”
– Ziggy Marley

“It is not a daily increase, but a daily decrease. Hack away at the inessentials.”
– Bruce Lee

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

“We can easily manage if we will only take, each day, the burden appointed to it. But the load will be too heavy for us if we carry yesterday’s burden over again today, and then add the burden of the morrow before we are required to bear it.”
– John Newton

“It's a good idea always to do something relaxing prior to making an important decision in your life.”
– Paulo Coelho

“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”
– Ovid

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

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”
– Elbert Hubbard

“Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.”
– Hans Selye

“There are thousands of causes for stress, and one antidote to stress is self-expression. That's what happens to me every day. My thoughts get off my chest, down my sleeves and onto my pad.”
– Garson Kanin

“For fast-acting relief, try slowing down. “
– Lily Tomlin

“Somehow our devils are never quite what we expect when we meet them face to face.”
– Nelson DeMille

“You cannot always control what goes on outside. But you can always control what goes on inside.”
– Wayne Dyer

“Breath is the power behind all things…. I breathe in and know that good things will happen.”
– Tao Porchon-Lynch

“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”
– David Mamet

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.”
– Leo F. Buscaglia

“Set peace of mind as your highest goal, and organize your life around it.”
– Brian Tracy

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

“I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems. Nothing is worth diminishing your health. Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.”
– Steve Maraboli

“Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life.”
– Andrew Bernstein

“The day she let go of the things that were weighing her down, was the day she began to shine the brightest.”
– Katrina Mayer

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

“If the problem can be solved why worry? If the problem cannot be solved then worrying will do you no good.”
– Shantideva

“These mountains that you are carrying, you were only supposed to climb.”
– Najwa Zebian

“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.”
– Oprah Winfrey

“Don’t try to force anything. Let life be a deep let-go. God opens millions of flowers every day without forcing their buds.”
– Osho

“If the problem can be solved, why worry? If the problem cannot be solved, worrying will do you no good.”
– Buddha

“Don’t believe every worried thought you have. Worried thoughts are notoriously inaccurate.”
– Renee Jain

“If you really want to escape the things that harass you, what you’re needing is not to be in a different place but to be a different person.”
– Lucius Annaeus Seneca

”People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life—no disgrace, no calamity (leaving me my eyes), which nature cannot repair.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Tension is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.”
– Chinese proverb

“Give your stress wings and let it fly away.”
– Terri Guillemets

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
– James Allen

“Just when you feel you have no time to relax, know that this is the moment you most need to make time to relax.”
– Matt Haig

“That the birds of worry and care fly over your head, this you cannot change, but that they build nests in your hair, this you can prevent.”
– Chinese Proverb

“Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one.”
– Hans Selye

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
– Thich Nhat Hanh

“Times of stress are also times that are signals for growth, and if we use adversity properly, we can grow through adversity.”
– Abraham Twerski

“The truth is that stress doesn’t come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about your circumstances.”
– Andrew Bernstein

“Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith.”
– Henry Ward Beecher

“How we perceive a situation and how we react to it is the basis of our stress. If you focus on the negative in any situation, you can expect high stress levels. However, if you try and see the good in the situation, your stress levels will greatly diminish.”
– Catherine Pulsifer

“A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. “
– Aesop

“If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.”
– Doug Larson

“If you treat every situation as a life and death matter, you’ll die a lot of times.”
– Dean Smith

“If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it.”
– George Burns

“Do not anticipate trouble or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight.”
– Benjamin Franklin

“How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.”
– Spanish proverb

“In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.”
– Fred Rogers

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.”
– Bertrand Russell

“When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure.”
– Peter Marshall

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.”
– John Lubbock

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
– Mahatma Gandhi

“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

“Rule number one is, don’t sweat the small stuff. Rule number two is, it’s all small stuff.”
– Robert Eliot

“Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering.”
– Winnie the Pooh

What is your favorite quote on stress and how to overcome it? Feel free to share the best one(s) you have found in this article or in your life in the comments section below.