Breaking up with a friend is sometimes even harder than with a romantic partner.
By Hannah Kern — Written on Oct 30, 2021
I never thought about how painful friendship breakups could be until I experienced one.
The moment I realized that my best friend was actually not my best friend anymore, I didn’t want to believe that we had grown apart — to think about the fact that we hadn’t seen each other in months.
I didn’t want to believe that my best friend all throughout high school no longer cared about coming to visit me or was interested in making plans to go to concerts or movies or do any of the things we used to enjoy doing together. I didn’t want to believe that she hadn’t asked me once in the last month how I was doing. But it was true, I was just no longer a priority to her anymore and our friendship had become toxic.
Strong friendships are very important to our well-being, and way more than we might realize. No one wants to feel like they’re alone, and that’s a feeling I’ve become way too familiar with after my friendship breakup.
And if you want to have genuine friendships, you have to let go of the ones that aren’t healthy anymore. If someone wants to see you, they’ll come to see you. If someone wants to talk to you, they’ll return your calls.
No one is too busy for their friends, and if someone says they are, then they’re not worth keeping around.
So if you’re having a hard time letting go of a broken friendship, or are questioning the quality of the friends you already have, here are 30 quotes that will encourage you to surround yourself with real, genuine people and heal from a friendship breakup.
30 Friendship Breakup Quotes to Help You Cope After Ending Toxic Friendships
1. "Only those who care about you can hear you when you're quiet." — Unknown
2. "If my absence doesn't affect your life then my presence has no meaning to it." — Unknown
3. "Closure happens right after you accept that letting go is more important than projecting a fantasy of how the relationship could have been." — Sylvester McNutt
4. "I've come to realize that the only people I need in my life are the ones who need me in theirs even when I have nothing else to offer but myself." — Unknown
5. "I reserve the right to be choosy about what and who I allow in my life." — @WomenByChoice
6. "Do yourself a favor and learn how to walk away... there are tons more waiting to love you better. Do better." — Reyna Biddy
7. "The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart." — Elizabeth Foley
8. "Making new friends shouldn't mean losing old ones." — Unknown
9. "It took me way too long to realize that you shouldn't be friends with people who never ask how you're doing." — Unknown
10. "Some people aren't loyal to you, they are loyal to their need of you. Once their need changes, so does their loyalty." — Unknown
11. "True friendship isn't about being there when it's convenient, it's about being there when it's not." — Unknown
12. "Make as many friends as you can, but don't build your life on them alone. It's an unstable foundation." — Sean Covey
13. "That's how it usually goes, move on." — Unknown
14. "Friendships cause heartbreaks too." — Unknown
15. "We're not close anymore, but I'll be here if you need me." — Unknown
16. "It's weird how time changes things." — Unknown
17. "Keep people who love you, motivate you, encourage you, enhance you, and make you happy. If a person does none of these things, let them go." — Unknown
18. "Hard times will always reveal true friends." — Unknown
19. "You have to let people go... not all of them are meant to stay till the end." — Unknown
20. "A broken friendship can be a comma or a full stop, you choose." — Unknown
21. "Once best friends, now strangers with memories." — Unknown
22. "When you realize that you're constantly treating a person a lot better than they treat you, it's time to make a change." — Unknown
23. "I no longer have the energy for meaningless friendships, forced interactions, or unnecessary conversations." — Unknown
24. "It hurts to realize how close we were back then." — Unknown
25. "Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy." — Robert Tew
26. "It can be one of the hardest things in life to lose your best friend." — Unknown
27. "A strong friendship doesn't need daily conversations; doesn't always need togetherness. As long as the friendship lives in the heart, true friends will never part." — Unknown
28. "Sometimes you have to give up on people. Not because you don't care, but because they don't." — Unknown
29. "Sometimes the memory of someone is better than the reality of them." —Steve Maraboli
30. "Do you ever feel like you aren't even friends with some of your friends?" — Unknown
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Hannah Kern is an avid writer with a passion for delving deep into interpersonal relationships.