This betrayal quotes collection will help you heal from it and inspire you to move forward.
Betrayal hurts so badly.
It is one of the most devastating experiences in life and one that’s difficult to understand.
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What are the benefits of reading these betrayal quotes?
Betrayal shatters the trust you had in others and leaves you feeling like you’re all on your own.
When a person close to you violates your trust, it calls everything into question and provides no easy answers.
You can recover from a lot of wrongs, but betrayal is hard to process.
But although you may not avoid feeling the sting of betrayal, you can heal from it.
Here are a few things that these betrayal quotes will help you understand:
- it’s not your fault
- you can not control the actions of others, only how you react to them
- not everyone you love is going to love you the same or have your best interests at heart
This is a flaw with humankind, not you personally.
Instead of allowing the other person’s behavior to negatively shape your life, learn to grow and evolve from the experience.
Move on and trust those who you can count on.
Focus on the things that will nurture your spirit and fill your soul with happiness.
Remember that you’re in control of your emotions and of how you treat others.
To help you heal and move forward, below is our collection of inspirational, wise, and uplifting betrayal quotes, betrayal sayings, and betrayal proverbs collected from a variety of sources over the years.
Also, check out our collection of fake people quotes to help you weed through those phony friends.
Betrayal quotes on backstabbing friends and lost trust
1. ”To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.” – Malcolm X
2. “I could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts, in every part of my body.” – Veronica Roth
3. ”It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” – William Blake
4. ”All trust involves vulnerability and risk, and nothing would count as trust if there were no possibility of betrayal.” – Robert C. Solomon
5. ”You know that you have been stabbed when you feel the deep pain of betrayal.” – Les Parrott
6. ”If you’re betrayed, release disappointment at once. By that way, the bitterness has no time to take root.” – Toba Beta
7. ”Betrayal is never easy to handle and there is no right way to accept it.” – Christine Feehan
8. “Better to have an enemy who slaps you in the face than a friend who stabs you in the back.” – Unknown
9. “There is always a lesson of a lifetime to learn in every betrayal.” – Edmond Mbiaka
10. “Breaking someone’s trust is like crumpling up a perfect piece of paper. You can smooth it over but it’s never going to be the same again.”– Unknown
Betrayal quotes to help you recover from it
11. “It’s funny how sometimes the people you’d take a bullet for are the ones behind the trigger.” – Unknown
12. ”Everyone suffers at least one bad betrayal in their lifetime. It’s what unites us. The trick is not to let it destroy your trust in others when that happens. Don’t let them take that from you.” – Sherrilyn Kenyon
13. “Some of the most poisonous people come disguised as friends.” – Unknown
14. ”The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend.” – Heather Brewer
15. ”Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.” – Arthur Miller
16. ”I have been stabbed in the back by those I needed the most. I’ve been lied to by those I love. And I have felt alone when I couldn’t afford to be. But at the end of the day, I had to learn to be my own best Friend, because there’s going to be days where no one is going to be there for me but myself.” – Unknown
17. ”Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” – Proverbs 27:6
18. “Love and marriage are wonderful arenas in which to place a character. We are most likely to risk our morals and beliefs while in love. Betrayal gives tremendous insights into a character as well.” – Anita Shreve
19. ”Betray a friend and you’ll often find you have ruined yourself.” — Aesop
20. “I’m not crying because of you; you’re not worth it. I’m crying because my delusion of who you were was shattered by the truth of who you are.” – Steve Maraboli
Read these insightful trust issues quotes to help you understand the meaning of trust and assist you in resolving your trust issues.
Betrayal quotes to help you move forward
21. ”Sometimes, instead of being hurt, you should look at betrayal as a gift. It makes it that much easier to sweep it up and toss it out with the rest of the trash. And why is that you ask? Because trash starts to stink…and when it does, it has no more value in your life.” – Donna Schoenrock
22. ”One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go. Whether it’s guilt, anger, love, loss or betrayal. Change is never easy. We fight to hold on and we fight to let go. If you’ve been hurt until it breaks your soul into pieces, your perspective in life will definitely change, and no one and nothing in this world could ever hurt you again.” – Mareez Reyes
23. ”Forgive yourself for the blindness that put you in the path of those who betrayed you. Sometimes a good heart doesn’t see the bad.” – Unknown
24. “Some people are willing to betray years of friendship just to get a little bit of the spotlight.” – Lauren Conrad
25. ”An honest enemy is better than a false friend. When in doubt, pay more attention to what people do and less to what they say. Actions not only speak louder than words, they are more difficult to fake.” – Zero Dean
26. ”I’m mature enough to forgive you, but I’m not dumb enough to trust you again.” – Unknown
27. “Love comes to those who still hope after disappointment, who still believe after betrayal, and who still love after they’ve been hurt.” – Unknown
28. “Betrayals rarely come from an enemy.”― Aniekee Tochukwu Ezekiel
29. ”The knives of betrayal and drama cut deep and hurt… but they also trim away the nonsense and reveal your true friends.” – Steve Maraboli
30. “I wish the pain of betrayal was as easy to ignore as the red flags that forewarned of it.”― Steve Maraboli
Betrayal quotes to inspire healing
31. “It’s hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough just to stab you in it….” ― Nicole Richie
32. ”For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.” – Suzanne Collins
33. “It’s bad enough when you are betrayed by an enemy, but it is infinite times more painful when this betrayal is perpetrated by a loved one.”– Unknown
34. ”He who throws away a friend is as bad as he who throws away his life.” – Sophocles
35. ”Pleasure which must be enjoyed at the expense of another’s pain, can never be such as a worthy mind can fully delight in.” – Samuel Johnson
36. “They can betray me but I choose not to betray my peace of mind.” – Dodinsky
37. “I have been constantly betrayed and deceived all my life.” – Taylor Caldwell
38. ”False friends are like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but leaving us when we cross into the shade.” – Christian Nevell Bovee
39. ”Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They’re only powerful when you got your back turned.” – Eminem
40. “It’s not just about who’s being real to your face, but also about who’s being real behind your back.” – Unknown
Also, check out these enemy quotes that will make you want to cut ties with your frenemies.
Betrayal quotes to inspire and teach
41. ”He who advises you to be reserved to your friends wishes to betray you without witnesses.” – Don J. Manuel
42. “Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.” – William Penn
43. “When someone breaks your trust don’t feel stupid for trusting them. You didn’t do anything wrong they’re just an untrustworthy person.” – Sonya Parker
44. ”In life, you can easily trust someone, but once the trust is broken it’s very difficult to trust anyone again.” – Sushan Sharma
45. “Betraying yourself is a gateway to harming your future self.”― Angel Moreira
46. “Love often betrays, but a friend rarely does.”― Amit Kalantri
47. ”Keep talking about me behind my back, and watch God keep blessing me in front of your face.” – Unknown
48. “Don’t fear the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you.” – Unknown
49. “Before someone betrayed you, you betrayed yourself.”― Meir Ezra
50. “That’s the thing with betrayal- it’s always the people you love.”― Fatima Bhutto
Betrayal and backstabbing quotes
51. “A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.” – Cally, Blakes 7, “Mission to Destiny”
52. “We can tolerate our true enemies, but not the backstabbers and betrayers.” – Sanji Paul Arvind
53. “I am grateful to those who have betrayed me… They thought they were just stabbing me in the back, but they were also cutting me free from their poisonous life.” – Steve Maraboli
54. “To understand loyalty you need to experience betrayal.” – Thomas, Joy Division (2006)
55. “Never trust on unknown hands, you will never know how they stand by you and backstab with their brains.” – Debolina Bhawal
56. “When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself.” – Isaac Bashevis Singer
57. “Be certain that he who has betrayed thee once will betray thee again.” – Johann Caspar Lavater
58. “One of the favorite pastimes of Backstabbers is recounting slights and grievances they’ve carried for years.” – Les Parrott
59. “People on the top seldom have enemies, it’s most often the flattering ‘friend’ who stab them in the back.”― Amit Abraham
60. “A stab from a friend cuts deeper than a stab from a foe.”― Amit Kalantri
Insightful betrayal quotes
61. “An open enemy is better than a false friend.” – Greek Proverb
62. “The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies.” – Unknown
63. “They talk of a man betraying his country, his friends, his sweetheart. There must be a moral bond first. All a man can betray is his conscience.” – Joseph Conrad
64. “Nothing hurts more than being disappointed by the single person you thought would never hurt you.” – Unknown
65. “You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead.” – Anais Nin
66. “Be careful to whom you trust. Betrayal always come from the persons you trusted.” – Anurag Prakash Ray
67. “If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.” – Unknown
68. “There is no greater blessing than a family hand that lifts you from a fall; but there is not lower curse than a family hand that strikes you when you’re down.” – Wes Fessler
69. “The betrayal of trust carries a heavy taboo.” – Aldrich Ames
70. “It was a mistake”, you said. But the cruel thing was, it felt like the mistake was mine, for trusting you.” – David Levithan
Betrayal quotes to enlighten you
71. “When you realize you’ve been deeply betrayed, fear really hits you. That’s what you feel first. And then it’s anger and frustration. Then disappointment and disillusionment.” – José N. Harris
72. “When you’re out of sight for as long as I was, there’s a funny feeling of betrayal that comes over people when they see you again.” – Esther Williams
73. “Sometimes the people closest to you betray you, and your home isn’t a place you can be happy anymore.” – Kristin Cas
74. “I used to advertise my loyalty and I don’t believe there is a single person I loved that I didn’t eventually betray.” – Albert Camus
75. “You want to believe that there’s one relationship in life that’s beyond betrayal. A relationship that’s beyond that kind of hurt. And there isn’t.” – Caleb Carr
76. “Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime.” – Mineko Iwasaki
77. “Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.” – John le Carre
78. “Do you believe a man can truly love a woman and constantly betray her? Never mind physically but betray her in his mind, in the very “poetry of his soul”. Well, it’s not easy but men do it all the time.” – Mario Puzo
79. “For me, I always wonder what’s worse: an emotional betrayal or a physical betrayal? That’s a really tough call.” – Hilarie Burton
80. “When no one you know tells the truth, you learn to see under the surface.” – Cassandra Clare
You might also like these disappointment quotes about love and life.
Other betrayal quotes and sayings
81. “You are going to break your promise. I understand. And I hold my hands over the ears of my heart, so that I will not hate you.” – Catherynne M. Valente
82. “It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.” – Confucius
83. “Betrayal is common for men with no conscience.” – Toba Beta
84. “Only those you trust can betray you.” – Terry Goodkind
85. “The point was to learn what it was we feared more: being misunderstood or being betrayed.” – Adam Levin
86. “Even as your body betrays you, your mind denies it.” – Sara Gruen
87. “She would see it as betrayal. Nothing more. Nothing less.” – Samantha Young
88. “We can depend on nobody in this world, and sometimes we even betray ourselves.” – Dean Cavanagh
89. “Betrayal isn’t ridiculous. It’s the reason empires fall.” – Marisha Pessl
90. “Betrayal is like death: you never think it will happen to you.”― Marty Rubin
Betrayal quotes that are painfully true or ask hard questions
91. “Is it possible to succeed without any act of betrayal?” — Jean Renoir
92. “I have never known a more vulgar expression of betrayal and deceit.” — Lucien Bouchard
93. “We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.” — Tennessee Williams
94. “In the end, it will be the people you trusted the most who betrayed you the most.”― Marty Rubin
95. “Betrayal can be extremely painful, but it’s up to you how much that pain damages you permanently.” — Emily V. Gordon
96. “There’s a lot of stupid men out there who feel like makeup is a betrayal of the truth, and that is so funny to me.” — Katya Zamolodchikova
97. “Naturally, when one makes progressive steps, there may be some who see it as a betrayal of their goals and interests.” — Louis Farrakhan
98. “Familial betrayal is, to me, the most heartbreaking kind – because if you can’t trust your family to love you and protect you, who can you really trust?” — Alexandra Bracken
99. “Love never betrays. People do.”― Rohit Sharma
100. “Betraying someone once can be a mistake. Betraying someone twice is a choice.”― Garima Soni
Which of these betrayal quotes resonated with you best?
Betrayal hurts the most.
It stabs you in the back and leaves you wondering what you did wrong to deserve such kind of treatment.
When you’re betrayed, you can lose your ability to trust yourself and others.
But although the lingering pain is difficult to forget, you can recover from betrayal and move forward.
Did you enjoy these betrayal quotes?
Which of the quotes was your favorite?
Let us know in the comment section below.