38 Overthinker Quotes to Help You Get Unstuck

IN THIS POST: Here’s a collection of overthinker quotes for all of my friends out there who keep thinking instead of doing. This is meant as help for overthinkers who want to shift from rehashing the past and worrying about the future to learning motivational thinking and finally taking action. 

raw cotton against white background with text motivation quotes to let go of overthinking

These quotes about thinking too much will also help those who don’t understand what it’s like to dwell on every.single.thought and every.single.moment of the day and all.the.possible.outcomes of every action.

If you’re an overthinker, you’ll appreciate the quotes that inspire you to take action. I know, it’s so hard to NOT become mired in the ‘what-if’ statements. Baby steps… baby steps.

It’s no secret that overthinking creates problems in so many areas of life, especially with goal setting and achieving. But with practice, you really can become a doer instead of just a thinker.

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Quotes About What It Feels Like to Be An Overthinker

1. “I get anxious about everything. I just can’t stop thinking about things all the time. And here’s the really destructive part — it’s always retrospective. I waste time thinking of what I should have said or done.”
— Hugh Laurie

2. “They tend to struggle with being indecisive. Because it’s never just ‘an easy decision.’ For them, it’s overthinking a million different factors and a million different possible turnouts.”
— Kim Quindlen, 10 Ways Old Souls Interact Differently With The World

3. “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.”
― Anthony Hopkins

4. “When you’ve had a life of overthinking, you have the same reaction time and time again. Shyness becomes habitual. 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, Quiet Confidence: Breaking Up with Shyness

5. “The truth is that there is no actual stress or anxiety in the world; it’s your thoughts that create these false beliefs. You can’t package stress, touch it, or see it. There are only people engaged in stressful thinking.”
― Wayne Dyer

6. “Overthinking is parasitic. It’s viral. It’s deadly, even. Letting yourself fall victim to overthinking doesn’t just kill your happiness, it destroys who you are. The mind is a beautiful and complex thing, and the only person who can hurt it is yourself.”
― Genereux Philip

Quotes About Productive Thinking vs. Overthinking

7. “Don’t dull the voice of your heart just to please your brain
As it swells into overthought and the desire to be right
Switch on the light of your inner lamp.
Listen to your heart so you can feel from your soul
Don’t discount your heart to make your logic fit.”
― Christine Evangelou, Rocks Into Roses: Life Lessons and Inspiration for Personal Growth

8. “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” 
― William Shakespeare

9. “… Majority of people who are easily stressed are the ones who think too much about the problems instead of solutions. Always focus on solutions.”
— Subodh Gupta

10. “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 Herjavec, The Will To Win: Leading, Competing, Succeeding

11. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” 
― Steve Jobs

Quotes About Changing the Focus of Our Thoughts

12. “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.” 
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

13. “Some thoughts should never be conceived. Some questions should never be asked, because they have no answer, and the questions themselves serve only to haunt with grinding guilt and second guessing.”
― Bobby Adair, Dead Fire

14. “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

15. “The sharpest minds often ruin their lives by overthinking the next step, while the dull win the race with eyes closed.”
― Bethany Brookbank, Write like no one is reading

16. “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, Words Unspoken

17. “That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. 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

18. “In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, don’t try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be completely present.” 
― Lao Tzu

19. “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
― Albert Einstein

20. “Don’t get too deep, it leads to over thinking, and over thinking leads to problems that don’t even exist in the first place.”
― Jayson Engay

21. “You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt

22. “Spend eighty percent of your time focusing on the opportunities of tomorrow rather than the problems of yesterday.”
— Brian Tracy

23. “Most of us never stop to consider our blessings; rather, we spend the day only thinking about our problems. But since you have to be alive to have problems, be grateful for the opportunity to have them.” 
— Bernie Siegel

blonde woman in blue sweater and hat making heart sign with hand against background of brooklyn bridge

Quotes to Help Overthinkers Stop Thinking and Take Action

24. “I’m not thinking about anything when I’m climbing, which is part of the appeal. I’m focused on executing what’s in front of me.” 
— Alex Honnold

25. “We can talk about it, dream about it and dissect the fine print.
In the end, only action satisfies our longing.”
― Gina Greenlee, Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road

26. “When you begin to worry, go find something to do. Get busy being a blessing to someone; do something fruitful. Talking about your problem or sitting alone, thinking about it, does no good; it serves only to make you miserable. Above all else, remember that worrying is totally useless. Worrying will not solve your problem.” 
— Joyce Meyer

27. “To get it all done I have to dim my brain, turn it down by notches like the flat-turn knob on a gas lantern, leaving only a nub of flame.”
― Christina Baker Kline, A Piece of the World

28. “If you get stuck, draw with a different pen. Change your tools; it may free your thinking.” 
— Paul Arden

29. “The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

30. “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

31. “Turning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we’re thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don’t show up. Amateurs crap out. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, he does his work, he keeps on truckin’, no matter what.” 
— Steven Pressfield

32. “When there are no expectations affecting a choice, it should be taken immediately. Overthinking such a choice will only lead to headaches and missed opportunities. Moreover, when this choice is taken, all alternatives should be eliminated immediately to avoid the pitfalls of groundless regrets.”
― Charbel Tadros

Easy Quotes to Remember When You Can’t Stop Overthinking

33. “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, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

34. “Remember, the talking about the thing isn’t the thing. Doing the thing is the thing.”
― Amy Poehler, Yes Please

35. “Thinking has, many a time, made me sad, darling; but doing never did in all my life… Do good if you can; but, at any rate, do something.”
― Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South

36. “Less thinking, more living.”
― S.R. Crawford, From My Suffering: 25 Ways to Break the Chains of Anxiety, Depression & Stress

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

38. “Don’t overthink yourself out of something good!”
― Akosua Dardaine Edwards

More Inspiration for Positivity and Pursuing Your Dreams

20 Free Printable Short Gratitude Quotes to Inspire Thankfulness — Filling the Jars

Motivational Quotes on Intentional Living — Filling the Jars

How More Adventure Can Mean More Happiness — Chatelaine.com

Using Motivational Phrases as Part of a Positive Daily Routine — Filling the Jars

Stop Thinking and Start Doing: A Goal Setting Starter Plan — Filling the Jars

Resources to Help Overthinkers Take Action

The 12-Week Year — I love this book because of how author Brian Moran emphasizes the importance of consistent tasks. However, it is pretty intense, and it will push you to your limits. That means it’s a perfect choice if you’re ready to make a big change in the way you think about and approach goals.

The One Focus Method — This book contains expanded versions of my most inspirational posts on goal setting and achieving. It also helps you work on building the motivation to follow through on completing projects in short periods of time.

The Goal Journey Annual Goal Planner — This printable goal planner is designed to streamline your goal-setting process, allowing you to focus on one goal at a time and adapt as life evolves. Get the extra stuff out of your head, let go of the regrets and ‘should-dos,’ and start accomplishing the goals that really matter to YOU.

Next Steps 

It’s not like you’re going to stop overthinking in a day. Perhaps you never will completely.

However, using these quotes and the ideas within them can help you to catch yourself at least sometimes. Then you can pull yourself back from the edge of the overthinking pit.

Learning to act without always knowing the outcome is a gift to yourself and your loved ones.

Have faith that everything will turn out for the best. The funny thing is, it nearly always does when you go into a situation with a positive mindset. 

Eventually, you can simply leap over or crush the small obstacles instead of getting hung up on them. 

Now… go DO something and Build Your Best Life!


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