40 Numb Quotes to Help Remove Your Emotional Armor

Beyond an emotional experience, numbness can be pretty physical as the colors around us dull, and our laughter feels forced. Read the quotes below to find out more about this disconnected state.

Many of us have switched ourselves off from life. This shutdown could be because of trauma, grief, heartbreak, depression, current events, and more. Our bodies and minds do not feel they can process emotions.

Sometimes, numbness is not a bad state and is needed for survival, or it can't be helped with disorders and mental health issues such as depression. However, in many cases, we hold ourselves back by shutting ourselves off from the world and the people around us.

While it may be a relief not to feel negative emotions, the positive ones become dull. Read the following quotes to learn more about numbness and the journey toward stepping into a connected existence.

Aaron Koblin’s quote: "When I look at a pie chart, I just go numb." | Image: AmoDays

Harrowing Quotes on Feeling Numb

"I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars." — Raymond Chandler

"There was no other way to say it. After being heartbroken for so long, I had made myself completely numb inside. Maybe not from physical pain, but anything emotional, yes." ― Jennifer Salaiz

"Absent the edge, we drown in numbness." ― David Whyte

"My heart is numb. It's not broke; it's numb. It's numb because of hard situations." — YG

"Here I am once again, Holding my pen while it's going all dry With no stories there to write nor remarkable dates for me to scratch, and it scares the hell out of me the way my soul became so numb.That all my papers turn into blanks …" — Samiha Totanji

Raymond Chandler’s quote: "I was as hollow and empty as the spaces between stars.” | Image: AmoDays

"Even when I try to stir myself up, I just get irritated because I can't make anything come out. And in the middle of the night, I lie here thinking about all this. If I don't get back on track somehow, I'm dead; that's the sense I get. There isn't a single strong emotion inside me." — Banana Yoshimoto

"He wondered if this was what clinical depression felt like, a total numbness, a weary lack of hope." — Dennis Lehane

"One must go through periods of numbness that are harder to bear than grief." — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

"Your numbness is something perhaps you cannot help. It is what the world has done to you. But your coldness. That is what you do to the world." — Lorrie Moore

YG’s quote: "My heart is numb. It's not broke; it's numb. It's numb because of hard situations.” | Image: AmoDays

"You've faced horrors in these past weeks... I don't know which is worse. The terror you feel the first time you witness such things, or the numbness that comes after it starts to become ordinary." — Tasha Alexander

"I just let the pain take over, allowing it to numb the pain of being left behind." ― Jessica Sorensen

"There's much to be said for feeling numb. Time passes more quickly. You eat less, and because numbness encourages laziness, you do fewer things, good or bad, and the world's probably a better place for it." ― Douglas Coupland

"Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from their selves." ― Bessel A. van der Kolk

Lorrie Moore’s quote: "Your numbness is something perhaps you cannot help. It is what the world has done to you. But your coldness. That is what you do to the world." | Image: AmoDays

"Until the bitter end, the emptiness inside her was hers alone." — Haruki Murakami

"I'm dead inside, so my eyes remain dry" ― Juno Dawson

"Had our hearts really become so numb . . . Who am I if I need to be shocked back into my best self?" ― Brendan Kiely

"Be careful with too much joy; it can make you numb in life." ― Toba Beta

Haruki Murakami’s quote: "Until the bitter end, the emptiness inside her was hers alone." | Image: AmoDays

"How nice—to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive." ― Kurt Vonnegut

"She wasn't sad anymore; she was numb and numb, she knew, was somehow worse." ― Atticus

Numb No More: Quotes for Hope

"I learned to be with myself rather than avoiding myself with limiting habits; I started to be aware of my feelings more, rather than numb them." — Judith Wright

"That's the great paradox of living on this earth, that in the midst of great pain, you can have great joy as well. If we didn't have those things, we'd just be numb." — Kathy Mattea

"It feels so good to vent out your anger through exercise, especially running. And when you gasp, when your legs feel numb, when your heart pounds. At that moment, you feel good because you feel nothing else." — Sarvesh Jain

Judith Wright’s quote: "I learned to be with myself rather than avoiding myself with limiting habits; I started to be aware of my feelings more, rather than numb them." | Image: AmoDays

"We cannot selectively numb emotions; when we numb the painful emotions, we also numb the positive emotions." — Brene Brown

"Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain." — William Faulkner

"We all experience numbness when we've been in pain for too long because we're simply too exhausted to process our own emotion anymore. But eventually, we feel again…the highs and the lows, the joys and the sorrows. If you're a deep feeler, numbness will always be a short reprieve. You cannot hold back an ocean." — Ranata Suzuki

"We don't exist unless there is someone who can see us existing; what we say has no meaning until someone can understand, while to be surrounded by friends is constantly to have our identity confirmed; their knowledge and care for us have the power to pull us from our numbness. In small comments, many of them teasing, they reveal they know our foibles and accept them and so, in turn, accept that we have a place in the world." — Alain de Botton

William Faulkner’s quote: "Given the choice between the experience of pain and nothing, I would choose pain." | Image: AmoDays

"Numbness keeps us from becoming." ― Glennon Doyle Melton

Quotes on Society and Numbness

"There are so many lies being told throughout the media, and people just run with the lies. They're numb to it. Too many followers, not enough leaders." — Big Boi

"Over the years, many in the public have become numb to news of financial corruption, partly because too many of these stories involve banker-on-banker crime." — Matt Taibbi

"I'm almost numb to misogyny at this point. It's just everywhere" — Callie Khouri

"We're surrounded by violence, and we see so much of it on TV, especially the news programs. We almost become numb. And that forces filmmakers to try to outdo themselves... They say, 'Look what I can do,' and it becomes like a showoff thing. To me, that's ridiculous. Filmmaking isn't a contest!" — Jan de Bont

Big Boi’s quote: "There are so many lies being told throughout the media, and people just run with the lies. They're numb to it. Too many followers, not enough leaders." | Image: AmoDays

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Opinion and Viewpoints Quotes on Being Numb

"Winning intoxicates you and numbs you to the sufferings of others." — Margaret Atwood

"When I look at a pie chart, I just go numb." — Aaron Koblin

"'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' and 'Wish You Were Here' are standout tracks. 'Comfortably Numb' is another one. 'High Hopes' from 'The Division Bell' is one of my favorite all-time Pink Floyd tracks. 'The Great Gig in the Sky,' 'Echoes,' there's [a] lot of them." — David Gilmour

"No, you're not numb. In fact, you are quite the opposite. You feel things so extraordinarily with the very power of your imagination that by the time they occur in real life, the tangible event simply cannot compare to the feeling you made with your mind." ― Ani Baker

Margaret Atwood’s quote: "Winning intoxicates you and numbs you to the sufferings of others." | Image: AmoDays

Learning how to take our armor off and expose ourselves to the world's risks can be an excruciating process. We may feel emotions bottled up for many years or decades come to the surface, which could be terrifying, causing many to retreat into their shells.

However, there is beauty on the other side, and in many cases, getting help with this process is advisable. If you have someone to guide you through, preferably a mental health adviser, this process, although painful, can lead you to a life of belonging and connection.

If you need a slight pick-me-up after this heavy read, go through these 53 fairy quotes to remind you that magic exists.