125 Toxic People Quotes to Live By

Toxic people quotes detail the ways energy-sucking behavior can wreak havoc on our lives. We’ve all had at least one relationship with someone who just wasn’t the best fit. They typically have a negative attitude which translates to negative energy that you experience that drags you down and makes you feel low. Certain people can make you feel like they’re actually draining the life from you.

Who needs that kind of relationship? Toxic people quotes provide commentary on these types and will allow you to think about them in a different, more illuminating way. Because toxic energy can feel so prevalent, it’s a great idea to ground yourself and take stock of your relationships and if they benefit or hurt you. These quotes will give you the tools to better understand what toxic behavior looks like and how you should avoid it for your own wellbeing.

Discover the Best Toxic People Quotes Below!

Insightful Toxic People Quotes

• “Some people are in such utter darkness that they will burn you just to see a light. Try not to take it personally.” ― Kamand Kojouri
• “If you walked away from a toxic, negative, abusive, one-sided, dead-end, low vibrational relationship or friendship— you won.” ― Lalah Delia
• “Toxic people attach themselves like cinder blocks tied to your ankles, and then invite you for a swim in their poisoned waters.” ― John Mark Green
• “There’s folks you just don’t need. You’re better off without ’em. Your life is just a little better because they ain’t in it.” ― William Gay
• “Not all friends know they have lost you.” ― Joyce Rachelle

Illuminating Toxic People Quotes

• “Removing toxic people (including Naysayers) from your life can repay you in scores of holistic wealth.” ― Keisha Blair
• “As you remove toxic people from your life, you free up space and emotional energy for positive, healthy relationships.” ― John Mark Green
• “The toxic behaviors were there before you decided to enter into relationships with them. The signs were there. You may have chosen to look the other way, but the signs were there.” ― P.A. Speers
• “Don’t let toxic people infect you with the fear of giving and receiving one of the most powerful forces in this world… LOVE!” ― Yvonne Pierre
• “If people keep stepping on you, wear a pointy hat.” ― Joyce Rachelle

The Benefits of Avoiding Toxic People Quotes

• “The idea is quite simple, stay a light year away from people who make you feel less about yourself.” ― Mohith Agadi
• “Toxic people will attempt to iron out their wrinkled past with smooth-talking.” ― Christine E. Szymanski
• “Chronic excusers never take responsibility for their actions or accountability for the consequences either. They are undercover narcissists.” ― Janna Cachola
• Keeping bad company is like being in a germ-infested area. You never know what you’ll catch.” ― Frank Sonnenberg
• “Just because someone is your family doesn’t mean you have to keep them around if they are toxic or abusive. Don’t let people guilt you.” ― Winnie Nantongo

Informative Toxic People Quotes

• “Childhood trauma doesn’t excuse toxic behaviors in adulthood. Once you are aware, it’s your duty to heal. It’s called accountability.” ― Kierra C.T. Banks
• “It’s no good to physically distance yourself from someone in your life if you’re just gonna let them live in your mind.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones
• “Toxicity at work, relationship or in life works as a slow poison which often ends its survivors as disillusioned or embittered.” ― Abhysheq Shukla
• “If you have trouble withholding personal information from nosy questioners, you need to get over this. This is how abusers take advantage of you in relationships and in life.” ― Christy Piper
• “When dealing with toxic people always choose distance over disrespect.” ― Germany Kent

Notable Toxic People Quotes

• “If you’ve been through trauma you don’t need more drama, so surround yourself with those who bring you peace.” ― Christy Ann Martine
• “Abuse is a control tactic. Its aim is to break you and make you submit.” ― M. Wakefield
• “Notice how the ones that f*** up the love always cry the hardest.” ― Efrat Cybulkiewicz
• “Recognizing that negative people have a difficult time saying something positive about you in life can be beneficial to you.” ― Angel Moreira
• “Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people and the right attitude helps us create harmony amongst these imperfect people.” ― Itayi Garande

Perceptive Toxic People Quotes

• “We don’t get to choose our family, but we can choose our friends. With courage, we can weed out narcissistic people. We can focus on those who do appreciate us, love us, and treat us with respect.” ― Dana Arcuri
• “Beware those who sacrifice your happiness on the altar of their beliefs.” ― John Mark Green
• “Domineering-types may appear omnipotent but, inevitably, will smother everything they love and lose all.” ― Stewart Stafford
• “Toxic and abusive people love sending you emotional bills for debts you’ve already paid. I call them Plungers… because they love to bring up old s***.” ― Steve Maraboli
• “Handling toxic people is not an art, they will be the victim of their own toxicity” ― P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar

Discerning Toxic People Quotes

• “You know you’re in a toxic environment when… People use the word ‘fairness,’ when in reality, managing the appearance of fairness becomes the job.” ― Richie Norton
• “You create more space in your life when you turn your excess baggage to garbage.” ― Chinonye J. Chidolue
• “An oppressive nature is like inclement weather, surrounding others and crushing them down with its infectious gloom.” ― Stewart Stafford
• “I have found the best way to deal with a toxic person is to not respond in any other way than monotone voice and a businesslike manner.” ― Jen Grice
• “There are only two kinds of people who can drain your energy: those you love, and those you fear. In both instances, it is you who let them in. They did not force their way into your aura, or pry their way into your reality experience.” ― Anthon St. Maarten

Astute Toxic People Quotes

• “Unhappy people can be very dangerous, don’t forget that.” ― S.E. Lynes
• “Pay no attention to toxic words. What people say is often a reflection of themselves, not you.” ― Christian Baloga
• “Toxic people will pollute everything around them. Don’t hesitate. Fumigate.” ― Mandy Hale
• “May you reach that level within, where you no longer allow your past or people with toxic intentions to negatively affect or condition you.” ― Lalah Delia
• “You don’t have to live happily ever after with every single person in your life in order to live happily ever after. Some unfortunate endings are necessary.” ― Joyce Rachelle

Wise Toxic People Quotes

• “Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings, and emotions.” — Will Smith
• “It is really exhausting to live in a dictatorship of ‘Me’, which is basically a tyranny of others.” ― Stefan Molyneux
• “Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line.” — Lucille Ball
• “I will not allow anyone to walk in my mind with dirty feet.” – Mahatma Gandhi
• “Don’t settle for a relationship that won’t let you be yourself.” — Oprah Winfrey

Sagely Toxic People Quotes

• “I think most people know when they’re in a toxic relationship – it requires an enormous amount of effort to keep it going, and you don’t get what you want from it.” – Joanna Coles
• “We teach people how to treat us.” — Dr. Phil
• “When you notice someone does something toxic the first time, don’t wait for the second time before you address it or cut them off. Many survivors are used to the ‘wait and see’ tactic which only leaves them vulnerable to a second attack. As your boundaries get stronger, the wait time gets shorter. You never have to justify your intuition.” ― Shahida Arabi
• “Fire false friends as early as possible. Do it before they dig out the dream seeds you’ve planted! The earlier, the better; the quicker, the safer!” ― Israelmore Ayivor
• “Letting go doesn’t mean that you don’t care about someone anymore. It’s just realizing that the only person you really have control over is yourself.” — Deborah Reber

Brilliant Toxic People Quotes

• “I found peace of mind when I walked away from small fights not worth fighting. I stopped fighting for people who gossiped about me. I stopped fighting for those who didn’t respect me. I quit worrying about those who wouldn’t value me for being me.” ― Dana Arcuri
• “I mean, if the relationship can’t survive the long term, why on earth would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?” – Nicholas Sparks
• “It’s one thing if a person owns up to their behavior and makes an effort to change. But if a person disregards your feelings, ignores your boundaries, and continues to treat you in a harmful way, they need to go.” —Daniell Koepke
• “There is no in-between, we all have to touch our own bottom.” ― Liz Thebart
• “The people in your life will either help you shake hands with yourself or they’ll teach you what you don’t want. Everyone, eventually, does one or the other. All pain transforms to learning. All love transforms to self-awareness.” ― Vironika Tugaleva

Relatable Toxic People Quotes

• “Everybody has bad relationships, and, at the end of the day, they are just a great way to set yourself up for a good relationship.” – Anne Hathaway
• “Sometimes there are things in life that aren’t meant to stay. Sometimes change may not be what we want. Sometimes change is what we need.” —Don Bolena Jr.
• “If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.” — Michael Jordan
• “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too can become great.” — Mark Twain
• “Controllers, abusers, and manipulative people don’t question themselves. They don’t ask themselves if the problem is them. They always say the problem is someone else.” —Darlene Quimet

Stellar Toxic People Quotes

• “The best emotional relief is not venting our problems, that only fuels the pain. It is focusing on something else, taking control of our lives and staying away from people that keep reminding us about our problems.” ― Rodolfo Peon
• “You cannot expect to live a positive life if you hang with negative people.” — Joel Osteen
• “If a person finds negative people in his life, then he needs to mend his own nature than that of others, for his own basic grounding decides the level of acidic or toxicity surrounding him.” — Anuj Somany
• “Forgiveness is a personal process that doesn’t depend on us having direct contact with the people who have hurt us.” ― Sharon Salzberg
• “There are people who break you down by just being them. They need not do anything. Dissociate.” ― Malebo Sephodi

Important Toxic People Quotes

• “Let negative people live their negative lives with their negative minds.”― Moosa Rahat
• “Every day you must unlearn the ways that hold you back. You must rid yourself of negativity, so you can learn to fly.” — Leon Brown
• “An entire sea of water can’t sink a ship unless it gets inside the ship. Similarly, the negativity of the world can’t put you down unless you allow it to get inside you.” — Goi Nasu
• “Yes, the people around us can be insensitive, narcissistic, toxic, and sometimes even abusive, but it is up to us to take that energy on or let it flow through us. No one is responsible for taking away our happiness but us.” ― Aletheia Luna
• “Never rely on another person to make you feel whole.” – Karen Salmansohn

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Interesting Toxic People Quotes

• “The wrong person will give you less than what you’re worth but that doesn’t mean that you have to accept it.” — Sonya Parker
• “Remember… Whoever is trying to bring you down is already below you.” — Ziad K. Abdelnour
• “Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” — Nido Qubein
• “Many people get into a relationship as a way to compensate for something they lack or hate within themselves. This is a one-way ticket to a toxic relationship because it makes your love conditional – you will love your partner as long as they help you feel better about yourself.” – Mark Manson
• “Don’t let negative and toxic people rent space in your head. Raise the rent and kick them out.” — Robert Tew

Solid Toxic People Quotes

• “Sometimes you don’t get closure, you just move on.” ― Karen Salmansohn
• “Don’t ever stop believing in your own transformation. It is still happening even on days you may not realize it or feel like it.” ― Lalah Delia
• “You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.” — C. JoyBell C.
• “No one forces a person to be negative, and no one forces anyone to be positive. The choice is up to an individual and that person alone.” — Byron Pulsifer
• “People inspire you, or they drain you. Pick them wisely.” — Hans F. Hasen

Powerful Toxic People Quotes

• “Letting go of toxic people in your life is a big step in loving yourself.” —Hussein Nishah
• “We all have that toxic people around us that make our lives miserable… The day we take them out from our lives, we will all become better people; including them…” ― Rodolfo Peon
• “A lot of people who have experienced trauma at the hands of people they’ve trusted take responsibility, and that is what’s toxic.” – Hannah Gadsby
• “Energy vampires prey on others because they are in pain, and their behavior is a disguised cry for help. However, the important thing to remember is that you are not responsible for resolving their issues. While you can offer help to an energy vampire, it is ultimately their responsibility to sort our their struggles.” ― Aletheia Luna
• “Real love moves freely in both directions. Don’t waste your time on anything else.” — Cheryl Strayed

Straightforward Toxic People Quotes

• “Cleanliness is a habit that keeps the body, mind, and environment neat, clean, and delightful and free from dirt and toxic things.” ― Amit Ray
• “What’s broken is broken—and I’d rather remember it as it was than mend it and see the broken places as long as I lived.” – Margaret Mitchell
• “If they do it often, it isn’t a mistake; it’s just their behavior.” — Dr. Steve Maraboli
• “Because at some point you have to realize that some people can stay in your heart but not in your life.” —Sandi Lynn
• “No matter how valuable you are and your ideas, fools will certainly play both of you down, so exclude yourselves from the inflammatory environs of fools.” ― Michael Bassey Johnson

Toxic People Quotes That Stick With You

• “How you choose to feel today should not be dependent on others.” ― Anthon St. Maarten
• “My father once said, ‘If you’re in the desert and you’re dying of thirst, are you going to drink a glass of blood or are you going to drink a glass of water?’ I think what he was trying to say, interesting coming from my blood father, is sometimes there are people in your family that can be toxic.” – Nicolas Cage
• “Losing will not always amount to a loss, sometimes you have to lose those toxic relationships and bad habits to create a space for better things.” ― Gift Gugu Mona
• “As important as it is to learn how to deal with different kinds of people, truly toxic people will never be worth your time and energy – and they take a lot of each. Toxic people create unnecessary complexity, strife, and, worst of all, stress.” — Travis Bradberry
• “My encouragement: delete the energy vampires from your life, clean out all complexity, build a team around you that frees you to fly, remove anything toxic, and cherish simplicity. Because that’s where genius lives.” — Robin S. Sharma

More Toxic People Quotes You Won’t Forget

• “If it comes, let it come. If it goes, it’s ok, let it go. Let things come and go. Stay calm, don’t let anything disturb your peace, and carry on.” ― Germany Kent
• “Relationships end, but they don’t end your life.” – Steve Martin
• “If someone thinks you’re being dramatic or selfish, then they obviously haven’t walked a mile in your shoes. It’s not important for you to explain yourself. You get a pass here. Don’t let anyone else try to saddle you with guilt or shame. If you need your space, take it.” ― Sarah Newman
• “No matter how much you love the person, you cannot change them. You may influence them; but at the end of the day, they must decide for themselves.” — Robert E. Baines Jr.
• “The hardest part of being in an emotionally abusive relationship, it’s actually admitting you’re in one.” ― Anna Akana

Meditative Toxic People Quotes

• “I know people can be awful dooms for each other.” ― Iris Murdoch
• “Let go of negative people. They only show up to share complaints, problems, disastrous stories, fear, and judgment on others. If somebody is looking for a bin to throw all their trash into, make sure it’s not in your mind.” – Dalai Lama
• “When people pressure you to engage in negative decisions and actions, look at them boldly in the eyes and dare them to do good.” ― Edmond Mbiaka
• “Surround yourself with positive people who believe in your dreams, encourage your ideas, support your ambitions, and bring out the best in you.” — Roy Bennett
• “Like arsenic, toxic people will slowly kill you. They kill your positive spirit and play with your mind and emotions. The only cure is to let them go.” —Dennisse Lisseth

Intriguing Toxic People Quotes

• “Entitlement is an expression of conditional love. Nobody is ever entitled to your love. You always have a right to protect your mental, emotional, and physical well-being by removing yourself from toxic people and circumstances.” ― Dr. Janice Anderson & Kiersten Anderson
• “Toxic relationships are like a good pasta that has been overcooked.” ― Asa Don Brown
• “Life is too short to hang around people who are causing you to compromise. Pulling you down. Your time is too valuable to waste it with people who don’t have a dream. People that aren’t going anywhere.” – Joel Osteen
• “You lift your spirits by moving away from what upsets you. If the stove is hot, you can’t ask how to touch it but be happy about it.” ― Queen Tourmaline
• “Letting go means to come to the realization that some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.” — Dr. Steve Maraboli

Sharp Toxic People Quotes

• “Sometimes it’s better to end something and try to start something new than imprison yourself in hoping for the impossible.” —Karen Salmansohn
• “Weeding out the harmful influences should become the norm, not the exception.” ― Carlos Wallace
• “It’s very possible and very okay to forgive someone and still not want to spend time with them.” ― Karen Salmansohn
• “Life is short. Don’t waste it with negative people who don’t appreciate you. Keep them in your heart but keep them out of your life.” – Anonymous
• “What’s more toxic than what they have done, think, or have said about you is how you let your mind receive it. In a world as ours filled with so much noise and hate, what suffers the most is our minds. Know when to keep your mind shut!” ― Chinonye J. Chidolue

Shrewd Toxic People Quotes

• “Don’t let toxic people sabotage your happiness, ruin your positive attitude, contaminate your mind or destroy your self-confidence. Instead, surround yourself with generous, positive, and nurturing people who will lift you up.”― Farshad Asl
• “I burned my bridges so the devil couldn’t follow me.” ― L.M. Browning
• “Don’t waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “The only relationships that exist are based on truth. Everything else is just a mutual and isolating delusion.” ― Stefan Molyneux
• “The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships.” — Anthony Robbins

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The Best Toxic People Quotes

• “I am worth more than these excuses. I am worth more than this inconsistent, unhealthy, disappointing dynamic. I am worthy of finding someone that is never going to allow us to settle into this toxic, distorted version of love.” ― Liz Newman
• “When someone tells me ‘no,’ it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them.” — Karen E. Quinones Miller
• “When being in a toxic relationship in life at times you may have to step outside yourself, to see yourself, so you can find yourself and love yourself again.” – Angel Moreira
• “Look around you at the people you spend the most time with and realize that your life can’t rise any higher than your friendships.” ― Mandy Hale
• “I’ve found the most tragic aspect of losing loved ones wasn’t the big boom of the fallout, but realizing later how much healthier I was without them.” ― Maggie Young

There you go! Did you find some toxic people quotes to put in your back pocket for a rainy day? Toxicity in any relationship will eventually tear both people down. It’s best to identify negative behavior and call it out before things get too out of hand. Further, you might just want to avoid these folks altogether. Stay positive, folks!