Never Give Up and Always Keep the Faith—90 Quotes About Breast Cancer That Resonate
Whether you are a cancer survivor yourself or you know and love someone—a family member, a friend, a neighbor—who has experienced a breast cancer diagnosis, breast cancer affects so many of us. In fact, about 1 in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer, and 2,650 new cases of invasive male breast cancer are expected this year, according to BreastCancer.org.
With so many lives touched by cancer, it's important to keep faith after a diagnosis and during breast cancer treatment. That can be difficult, of course, but with the help of these 90 breast cancer quotes from survivors and celebrities alike, you may just find that you feel less alone, inspired, and encouraged by others who have been affected, too. Ready to feel inspired? Keep reading for 90 inspiring breast cancer quotes that really resonate.
Related: Breast Cancer Tattoo Ideas
90 Breast Cancer Quotes
1. "More than 10 million Americans are living with cancer, and they demonstrate the ever-increasing possibility of living beyond cancer."— Sheryl Crow
2. "Having cancer does make you try to be better at everything you do and enjoy every moment. It changes you forever. But it can be a positive change.” — Jaclyn Smith
3. "A woman is like a tea bag; you cannot tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water." — Nancy Reagan
4. "Once I overcame breast cancer, I wasn’t afraid of anything anymore." — Melissa Etheridge
5. "I very much considered the notion that, as someone battling this disease, the idea that I might not have health insurance, which I do thanks to my great union, is completely terrifying. Health care should be for all. I believed that before; now I really believe it." — Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Related: The Super Common Habit That's Supersizing Your Cancer Risk, According to Oncologists
6. "The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart." — Nikolai Lenin
7. "The only person who can save you is you." — Sheryl Crow
8. "We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up or fight like hell." — Lance Armstrong
9. "The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had you will have lived." — Gilda Radner
Related: 35 Scriptures on Healing
10. "The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it." — C.C. Scott
11. "Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today, I dare to win." — Bernadette Devlin
12. "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." — Albert Einstein
13. "Fearless does not mean you aren’t afraid; it means you accept the fear and move forward anyway." — Brianne Joseph
14. "If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope?" — Lance Armstrong
Related: If You Have This Extremely Common Health Condition, It Could Raise Your Cancer Risk By 30%
15. "It's about focusing on the fight and not the fright." — Robin Roberts
16. "With breast cancer, it’s all about detection. You have to educate young women and encourage them to do everything they have to do." — Bill Rancic
17. "You are not your scars." — Malisa Morris
18. "Breast cancer changes you, and the change can be beautiful." — Jane Cook
19. "Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things." — Robert Brault
20. "And if it comes back, I’ll keep fighting." — Nicole Kramer
Related: If You Experience This Type of Breast Pain, You Should See a Doctor ASAP
21. "Every woman needs to know the facts. And the fact is, when it comes to breast cancer, every woman is at risk." — Debbie Wasserman Schultz
22. "Breast cancer is scary and no one understands that like another woman who has gone through it too." — Mindy Sterling
23. "Keep your sunny side up, keep yourself beautiful, and indulge yourself!" — Betsey Johnson
24. "Whether you’re a mother or father, or a husband or a son, or a niece or a nephew or uncle, breast cancer doesn’t discriminate." — Stephanie McMahon
25. "My diagnosis flung me into despair until it hit me: I’m alive." — Dana Dinerman
Related: The One Thing Experts Say You Should Never, Ever Do if You Want To Lower Your Risk of Breast Cancer
26. "It's OK not tobe OK all the time." — Shauna Kirby
27. "Having had cancer, one important thing to know is you're still the same person at the end. You're stripped down to near-zero. But most people come out the other end feeling more like themselves than ever before." — Kylie Minogue
28. "When fear knocks, let faith answer the door." — Robin Roberts
29. "Since I had cancer, I've realized that every day is a bonus." — Geoffrey Boycott
30. "Once cancer happens, it changes the way you live for the rest of your life." —Hayley Mills
31. "Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, 'I’ll try again tomorrow.'" — Mary Anne Radmacher
Related: The No. 1 Breast Cancer Sign Most People Miss
32. "I personally know women who are breast cancer survivors and I will do all I can to support the cause. Besides, I love boobies!" — Jane Wiedlin
33. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. So the only thing to be really afraid of is if you don’t go get your mammograms." — Cynthia Nixon
34. "Have your own experience and trust your intuition. A million people will tell you what you should and shouldn't be doing, but you know yourself and your body best—do what you think is right." — Christina Steinorth-Powell
35. "I would like to take the stigma away. 'Mastectomy,' the word seemed to scary to me at first. After doing research and seeing the advancements, the surgery has come a long way from 20 years ago. The results can be incredible." — Giuliana Rancic
Related: Cancer Survivor Robin Roberts Is Passionately Pushing for Equality in Healthcare
36. "I'm battling cancer. It's another battle I intend to win." — Arlen Specter
37. "Cancer has shown me what family is. It showed me a love that I never knew really existed." — Michael Douglas
38. "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face." — Eleanor Roosevelt
39. "Attitude is a little thing that makes a difference." — Winston Churchill
40. "When someone has cancer, the whole family and everyone who loves them does, too." — Terri Clark
41. "I started realizing I could be an example for women to not just be aware of breast cancer, but to act on it, to give themselves an exam." — Giuliana Rancic
Related: A New Study Uncovered a Common Risk For Breast Cancer—Here's How You Can Take Action Now
42. "No matter what the statistics say, there is always a way." — Bernie Siegel
43. "When life kicks you, let it kick you forward." — Kay Yow
44. "Don’t let breast cancer take away the motivation to achieve your dreams." —Diana Cohen
45. "I think cancer is a hard battle to fight alone or with another person at your side, but I will say having someone to pick you up when you fall, stand by your side through every appointment and delivery of bad news, is priceless." — Jenna Morasca
46. "I have lived over a decade now without a mom. She met only a few of her grandchildren and was often too sick to play with them. My mother fought the disease for a decade and made it into her 50s. My grandmother died in her 40s. I'm hoping my choices allow me to live a bit longer." — Angelina Jolie
Related: RHONY Star Bershan Shaw Shares Her Biggest Life Lessons After Beating Cancer Twice
47. "Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul." — Jim Valvano
48. "The hardest thing you can do is smile when you are ill, in pain, or depressed. But this no-cost remedy is a necessary first half-step if you are to start on the road to recovery." — Allen Klein
49. "There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow." — Orison Swett Marden
50. "There can be life after breast cancer. The prerequisite is early detection."— Ann Jillian
51. "Toughness is in the soul and spirit, not in muscles." — Alex Karras
Related: What Does a Breast Lump Actually Feel Like? Doctors Explain
52. "If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a bloody army to battle cancer." — Niyati Tamaskar
53. "Seeds of faith are always within us; sometimes it takes a crisis to nourish and encourage their growth." — Susan Taylor
54. "Each day comes bearing its own gifts. Untie the ribbons." — Ruth Ann Schabacker
55. "Don’t delegate your survival to the doctors and hope for the best. You have to participate in your own cure. You have to fight." — Lawrence Wray
56. "If a relative has suffered ovarian or breast cancer, get the genetic screening. It saves lives." — Lisa Jey Davis
Related: 10 Cancer Super Survivors You Need to Follow on Instagram Right Now
57. "Life’s better now. I wouldn’t do it all again, though. It’s funny how life works. Maybe it was meant to happen for many reasons because my life in many ways is richer." — Giuliana Rancic
58. "Cancer didn’t bring me to my knees; it brought me to my feet." — Michael Douglas
59. "Cancer affects all of us, whether you're a daughter, mother, sister, friend, coworker, doctor, or patient." — Jennifer Aniston
60. "Breast cancer, whether I like it or not, is part of my family’s story. That’s why I am so passionate about raising awareness because I have seen firsthand how it can impact others." — DeAngelo Williams
61. "Time is shortening. But every day that I challenge this cancer and survive is a victory for me." — Ingrid Bergman
Related: What Causes Breast Cancer, Exactly? Doctors Explain What We Know—and How Testing Can Help
62. "Cancer is messy and scary. You throw everything at it, but don’t forget to throw love at it. It turns out that might be the best weapon of all."— Regina Brett
63. "Do not partner with fear to help you make decisions." — Jeannette Gregory
64. "I know how to put on my battle gear and I'm a fighter." — Suzanne Somers
65. "It drove home, personally, the value of early detection and education and intervention." — Janet Napolitano
66. "Surviving cancer treatment is like coming home from war." — Saskia Lightstar
Related: These Are the Different Stages of Breast Cancer—and What Each One Means
67. "Cancer opens many doors. One of the most important is your heart." — Greg Anderson
68. "I always look on the positive side and in a weird way just thought of it as another adventure. Not for a single second did it go through my head that I was going to die." — Caroline Monk
69. "Fight each round, take it on the chin. And never never never ever give in." — Olivia Newton-John
70. "I'm stronger than I thought I was. My favorite phrase has been, 'This too shall pass.' I now understand it really well." — Robin Roberts
71. "I'm here today because I refused to be unhappy. I took a chance." — Wanda Sykes
72. "You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have." — Cayla Mills
73. "Cancer is really hard to go through and it's really hard to watch someone you love go through, and I know because I have been on both sides of the equation." — Cynthia Nixon
74. "My relationship with my body has changed. I used to consider it as a servant who should obey, function, give pleasure. In sickness, you realize that you are not the boss. It is the other way around." — Federico Fellini
75. "I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."— Angelina Jolie
76. "Cure sometimes, treat often, comfort always."— Hippocrates
Related: A Definitive List of Every Type of Breast Cancer—and What to Know About Each
77. "Once you choose hope, anything’s possible." — Christopher Reeve
78. "Don’t misunderstand: I was to-my-bones terrified. But I didn’t let myself — except for a couple of moments — go to a really dark place. I didn’t allow it." — Julia Louis-Dreyfus
79. "I laughed more in the hospital than I ever have in my life, making fun of all the weird things that were happening to me. My friends would walk in with this sad look, and I would throw something at them and say, ‘Come on! This isn’t the end of the world!'" — Christina Applegate
80. "I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this?’ None of us do." — Shannen Doherty
81. "I think after overcoming breast cancer, you sort of become fearless and somehow going up to your boss to talk about a possible promotion doesn't seem like such a daunting task anymore." — Hoda Kotb
82. "I don't have breasts—so why do I have to pretend like I do? That stuff isn't important. I'm just grateful to have been born at a time when the research made it possible for me to survive. I feel so incredibly lucky to be alive." — Kathy Bates
83. "I do not wish my anger and pain and fear about cancer to fossilize into yet another silence, nor to rob me of whatever strength can lie at the core of this experience, openly acknowledged and examined...imposed silence about any area of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness." — Audre Lorde
84. "Obviously, it wasn’t meant for me to die of cancer at 40. Every day my life surprises me, just like my cancer diagnosis surprised me. But you roll with it. That’s our job as humans." — Edie Falco
85. "It's an honor to be alive, to be a survivor, to be able to give a message of fighting, of strength, to all women and friends who are going through this." — Alejandra Guzmán
86. "Ultimately, they're just breasts right? I mean, I love them, they're mine, they're beautiful, but in the grand scheme of things, I would rather be alive and I would rather grow old." — Shannen Doherty
87. "Try to find the moments in your day that give you joy and give you happiness, because there's still time to laugh, and life is going on." — Rita Wilson
88. "'Everything will be OK in the end. If it's not OK, it's not the end.' Ever since I was diagnosed with breast cancer, this quote has been my mantra. These words have been my anthem, my inspiration, my comfort and my prayer." — Giuliana Rancic
89. "I’ve always thought of myself as being a warrior. When you actually have a battle, it’s better than when you don’t know who to fight." — Carly Simon
90. "I think our scars remind us of what we have overcome. They are part of what makes each of us unique. That diversity is one of the things that is most beautiful about human existence." — Angelina Jolie
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