Mend the Pieces of Your Heart with These 36 Golden Kintsugi Quotes

Heartbreak, for many, is one of the most painful experiences, and some jump into bad habits to soothe their suffering. If your heart has been shattered, these 36 quotes can help you discover a new form of healing.

Kintsugi is a Japanese art form and metaphor. It is used for the art of healing and changing our perception of what it means to put ourselves back together again after we've experienced a painful or traumatic event.

The idea is to take broken pottery pieces and glue them together with gold, creating a stunning result. The golden cracks represent the emotional or physical scars someone may have endured. Every pottery piece also shows a unique design based on how its glued together.

The idea is that when we face an event and have to pick up the broken pieces of ourselves, we can feel weak and shameful. This exercise shows us that sometimes adversity can change us in a way that makes us shine brighter and become even more beautiful.

In essence, Kintsugi proves the broken are beautiful. Learn how to use this golden-laden exercise to glue back the pieces of your shattered heart by reading the 36 quotes below.

Sarah Rees Brennan’s quote: "Why be broken when you can be gold?" | Image: AmoDays

Kintsugi Philosophy to Soothe Your Shattered Heart

"Kintsugi: Embrace your imperfections and find happiness – the Japanese way." — Tomas Navarro

"I love the idea that an accident can be an occasion to make something more delightful, not less so." — Ingrid Fetell Lee

"Kintsugi is a form of art embodying 'Wabi Sabi,' which is a word to appreciate Japanese aesthetic sensibilities. (Wabi Sabi, which represents 'beauty within simplicity and imperfection') Nothing lasts forever; nothing is complete, [and] nothing is perfect. Your scar is [an] important part of your life and is a part of you. It is a living history; never look [at] scars as negative. Instead, take it as positive." — Shawzi Tsukanoto

"Kintsugi is based on the belief that something broken is stronger and more beautiful because of its imperfections, the history attached to it, and its altered state." — Jo Ann V. Glim

"The Japanese art form of kintsugi repairs broken and flawed pottery with gold, silver, or platinum. It doesn't hide the cracks, but embraces it, seeing it as integral to the object's history, and rebuilds something new." — Sidhanta Patnaik

Penny Reid's quote: “They use gold, not invisible superglue because mistakes shouldn't be considered ugly." | Image: AmoDays

"The new bowl is stronger than the old one. The scars are the design. Your attention is drawn to the cracks and how they are mended. That is what you're supposed to see. The beauty is in the brokenness." — Justin Whitmel Earley

"And now every time that it shatters, I build it back together better, stronger, with more unique random scars to redefine, to beautify, to create more success stories that I can claim to be mine, alone." — Rubina

"It symbolizes how we must incorporate our wounds into who we are, rather than try to merely repair and forget them." — David Wong

"Kintsugi [is] not just a method of repair but also a philosophy. It's the belief that the breaks, cracks, and repairs become a valuable and esteemed part of the history of an object rather than something to be hidden." — Kathleen Tessaro

"The piece is more beautiful for having been broken." — Kathleen Tessaro

Justin Whitmel Earley’s quote: "The new bowl is stronger than the old one. The scars are the design.” | Image: AmoDays

"Broken pieces and their repair merely contribute to the story of an object; they don't ruin it." — Penny Reid

"One of the key principles in Kintsugi is 'Kansha' or expressing gratitude." — Denise Escanillas Ramos

"I sit and pick up those pieces with their renewed essence and identities, with their flawed edges and imperfections, and join them together like kintsugi, displaying the damages with pride." — Rubina

"Its philosophy and art state that breakage and mending are honest parts of a past which should not be hidden. Your wounds and healing are a part of your history, a part of who you are. Every beautiful thing is damaged. You are that beauty; we all are." — Bryant McGill

"Kintsugi is a pottery technique. When something breaks, like a vase, they glue it back together with melted gold. Instead of making the cracks invisible, they make them beautiful…To celebrate the history of the object...What it's been through. And I was just…thinking of us like that." — Leah Raeder

Candice Kumai’s quote: "The struggles will become your story, and that's the beauty of Kintsugi. Your cracks can become the most beautiful part of you." | Image: AmoDays

"The bonded seams become an intrinsic part of the ceramic and add a personalized, one-of-a-kind beauty through its imperfections." — Jo Ann V. Glim

"The struggles will become your story, and that's the beauty of Kintsugi. Your cracks can become the most beautiful part of you." — Candice Kumai

"A break is something to remember, something of value, a way to make the piece more beautiful, rather than something to disguise. They use gold, not invisible superglue, because mistakes shouldn't be considered ugly." — Penny Reid

"All beautiful things carry distinctions of imperfection. Your wounds and imperfections are your beauty. Like the broken pottery mended with gold, we are all kintsugi." — Bryant McGill

"In repairing the object, you really ended up loving it more because you now knew its eagerness to be reassembled, and in running a fingertip over its surface, you alone could feel its many cracks – a bond stronger than mere possession." — Nicholson Baker

David Wong’s quote: "It symbolizes how we must incorporate our wounds into who we are, rather than try to merely repair and forget them.” | Image: AmoDays

Golden Quotes to Glue Your Broken Heart Back Together

"

"I have found someone that makes me adore these fragments in me. She is an alchemist working with gold, healing those imperfections, not hiding them in deep, shaping them with trust, molding them to fit back in, trying to restore me with her palms, blessing her magic on me with that sacred art of kintsugi." — Sidharth Suraj

"Gather the scattered fragments of your broken heart. Pick them up off the floor and weave them into the tapestry of your life so that when you find the light again - and you will - you'll remember that love can only be lost because it was once found. You are healing, and you are growing, and everything you are is good enough." — Rachel Brathen

"When your heart is broken, you plant seeds in the cracks, and you pray for rain." — Andrea Gibson

"In the language of delicate perception, Kintsugi is the art of mending what is broken. The Emperor's plate is smashed. Death and despair! Yet here is powdered gold and platinum, with resin bled from Chinese lacquer trees to run in cracks and make it whole again. For my poor love, I cannot find repair without a balm more powerful than these." — Roy Ernest Ballard

Bryant McGill’s quote: "All beautiful things carry distinctions of imperfection." | Image: AmoDays

"The secret to becoming unbreakable is realizing that you are already broken. We all are.” — Brant Menswar

"God uses our brokenness to make us even more beautiful. It's the place of brokenness where God comes in to restore and renew." — James Prescott

"You're molded to make a difference. Let your light shine bright, even through the cracks." ― Julie Barbera

"To become beautiful, it had to break." — Aura Trevortini

"A broken heart is just the growing pains necessary so that you can love more completely when the real thing comes along." — J.S.B. Morse

Leah Raeder’s quote: "My heart full of gold veins, instead of cracks." | Image: AmoDays

"Why be broken when you can be gold?" — Sarah Rees Brennan

"My heart full of gold veins, instead of cracks." — Leah Raeder

Aura Trevortini’s quote: "To become beautiful, it had to break." | Image: AmoDays

"I am looking forward to getting shattered only to add further elegance to myself." — Aura Trevortini

"All beautiful things carry distinctions of imperfection." — Bryant McGill

"If you're broken, hold until each piece of you heals...again. Life is but a Kintsukuroi." — Samara Rhea Samuel

Aura Trevortini’s quote: "I am looking forward to getting shattered only to add further elegance to myself." | Image: AmoDays

Heartbreak can be devastating, so sometimes, we may take longer to put the pieces back together. This slow pace is perfectly normal and a journey of its own; something to look at as building a tapestry of the new you — perhaps a new you that may attract another lover in the future, willing to hold your heart with reverence and delicacy.

While on this journey, an alleviating method to soothe that empty, throbbing feeling in your chest is finding other people with whom to relate. The less alone you feel, the better. Why not start by reading these 76 relatable quotes about heartbreak?