50 Frustration Quotes to Uplift Your Emotions

By Norbert Juma

Master quote curator and editor on a mission to inspire

Published April 6, 2023

As the title suggests, this article comes with various inspiring and captivating frustration quotes.

You can also find some information on frustration, its signs, and ways to deal with it.

Also, you may enjoy these related articles:

So, let’s start!

What is Frustration?

First, frustration is referred to as an emotional state with prominent signs like anger, disappointment, or dissatisfaction.

This usually happens when a person cannot achieve his/her desire or goal.

When left untreated, frustration can lead to a life full of stress.

As a result, the frustrated person also experiences decreased motivation.

Major Signs of Frustration

Here are a few of the major signs of frustration.

Irritability
Depression
Anger or aggression
Lacking self-esteem
Experiencing less sleep
Unhealthy eating behaviors
Giving up on tasks too early

Causes of Frustration

Frustration proves to result from failures.

Typically, it happens when a person cannot achieve his/her goals.

In addition, if something doesn’t go as planned, a person with higher expectations experiences frustration.

Listed below are the most common causes of frustrations:

Relationships
Financial situation
Stressful job tasks
Interpersonal conflicts
Hassles associated with our lives

Mostly, these affect our emotional state both externally and internally.

So, talking about internal frustration might make us unhappy.

This might happen when you are unhappy with your efforts while achieving a goal.

Conversely, external frustration is caused by external factors around you.

For instance, the inability to reach your desired destination because of a traffic jam is an example of external frustration.

Check out this article for signs of frustration.

How to Deal with Frustration

Frustration tolerance is the term related to an ability of a person to deal with frustration.

So, if you have a high frustration tolerance, it’s easy for you to tackle stress without getting frustrated.

Similarly, you can also handle many challenges with great courage.

Here are the most recommended ways of dealing with frustration.

Try distracting yourself
Stay calm and relaxed
Change your attitude
Practice mindfulness
Improve your emotional intelligence

Distracting yourself from the source of frustration can prevent the worsening of a situation.

Therefore, you need to give some space to yourself by indulging in an activity you love.

This will give you enough time to devise a strategy to deal with the source of frustration.

It is possible to deal with frustration by relying on different relaxing techniques, such as:

Breathing exercises
Going out on a walk
Listening to calming music

Top 10 Frustration Quotes

First, here are the top 10 from our collection of frustration quotes.

1. “I was an accomplice in my own frustration.” — Peter Shaffer

2. “Expectation is the mother of all frustration.” — Antonio Banderas

3. “Dreams that are planned are called frustration.” — Bill Duke

4. “Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart.” — Emanuel Cleaver

5. “A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning.” — Chuck Noll

6. “Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration, and resentment.” — Dale Carnegie

7. “Frustration is the fuel that can lead to the development of an innovative and useful idea.” — Marley Dias

8. “Needing to have things perfect is the surest way to immobilize yourself with frustration.” — Wayne Dyer

9. “Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success.” — Bo Bennet

10. “It is hardly possible to build anything if frustration, bitterness, and a mood of helplessness prevail.” — Lech Walesa

Thoughtful Frustration Quotes

Let’s examine some brilliant individuals’ perspectives on frustration and its impacts.

11. “We are properly ready for marriage when we are strong enough to embrace a life of frustration.” — Alain de Botton

12. “Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it built on catastrophe.” — Sumner Redstone

13. “If the human body recognized agony and frustration, people would never run marathons, have babies, or play baseball.” — Carlton Fisk

14. “Poverty does not make people terrorists, but terrorists can exploit the frustration it creates and use it as a breeding ground for violent ideas.” — Anna Lindh

15. “I think that crying is a way women and men express frustration, anger, or passion. And we should not feel compelled to mute those emotions.” — Jennifer Palmieri

Frustration qutoes to ponder

16. “Our frustration is greater when we have much and want more than when we have nothing and want some. We are less dissatisfied when we lack many things than when we seem to lack but one thing.” — Eric Hoffer

17. “When leaders know how to lead great meetings, there’s less time wasted and less frustration. We have more energy to do the work that matters, realize our full potential, and do great things.” — Justin Rosenstein

18. “Being alone with fear can rapidly turn into panic. Being alone with frustration can rapidly turn into anger. Being alone with disappointment can rapidly turn into discouragement and, even worse, despair.” — Mark Goulston

19. “It is not enough to tackle the mechanics of terror organizations. We must also tackle the situations that create terrorists. We desperately need to address the frustration, the loss, and the despair that drive some to these actions.” — Hussein of Jordan

20. “When you create Hope in people, you create expectations. When you do not fulfill those expectations, when the change becomes more of the same old, same old, the Hope that was created can only turn to anger, frustration, and bitter disappointment.” — Vermin Supreme

Uplifting Frustration Quotes

Here are some motivational and mood-boosting frustration quotes.

21. “Success is buried on the other side of frustration.” — Jony Robbins

22. “When you work hard, you are not going to be happy the whole time; you are going to have frustration, bad times in life.” — Emiliano Martinez

23. “To live for results would be to sentence myself to continuous frustration. My only sure reward is in my actions and not from them.” — Hugh Prather

24. “Take the high road. No matter how much strife, consternation, frustration, and anger you might be confronted with – don’t go to that level.” — Tim Gunn

25. “Just remember: if ever you feel weighed down by the bureaucracy and often mundanity of modern life, don’t fight the frustration. Let it be the catalyst for whimsy.” — James Veitch

More motivational frustration quotes

26. “I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.” — Tony Robbins

27. “You’ve done it before, and you can do it now. See the positive possibilities. Redirect the substantial energy of your frustration and turn it into positive, effective, unstoppable determination.” — Ralph Marston

28. “All that is necessary to break the spell of inertia and frustration is this: Act as if it were impossible to fail. That is the talisman, the formula, the command of right about face which turns us from failure to success.” — Dorothea Brande

29. “Life is not an easy matter… You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.” — Leon Trotsky

30. “Of course, everyone has those moments of frustration now and then when you say, ‘I wish I could play well already – or just stop.’ But it’s too much trouble to stop just for a moment of frustration. It is when you keep going that you make the most progress.” — Hilary Hahn

Frustration Quotes by Beholders of Frustration

Also, we would like to share some frustration quotes from people.

31. “The people sometimes who are closest to us are the ones who bear the brunt of our frustration.” — Lynn Nottage

32. “From my anger, frustration, and hurt, I wrote the short story that would later become ‘The Hate U Give.’” — Angie Thomas

33. “Stress is the reason for crime and all other kinds of frustration. To relieve it will eliminate everything else.” — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

34. “Frustration is a sign I am acting independently. The more you try your own way, the tighter the doors will stay closed.” — Joyce Meyer

35. “I mean, I have moments of huge frustration because of my inability to express myself linguistically as clearly as I would like to.” — David Gilmour

36. “When you’re a chill, laid back guy, you maybe have more pent-up frustration, anger, bitterness, than maybe somebody a little wilder would have.” — Adam Page

37. “I can remember the frustration of not being able to talk. I knew what I wanted to say, but I could not get the words out, so I would just scream.” — Temple Grandin

38. “We develop the kind of citizens we deserve. If a large number of our children grow up into frustration and poverty, we must expect to pay the price.” — Robert Kennedy

39. “Talent is not enough. It’s a mental game. You have to deal with frustration when you don’t play; you have to deal with the pressure. There are no excuses.” — Emiliano Martinez

40. “The web and physical world is plagued with abundance – people need help sorting through all the good and bad stuff out there. The tyranny of choice is causing major psychic pain and frustration for people.” — Jason Calacanis

Ironic Frustration Quotes

Lastly, here are a few ironic and amusing frustration quotes.

Hope you will have fun reading them!

41. “For many of us, football is both a source of frustration and absolute euphoria.” — Nish Kumar

42. “When a woman is frustrated, and it’s your wife, you as the husband get that frustration.” — Magic Johnson

43. “In computing, turning obvious into the useful is a living definition of the word ‘frustration’.” — Alan Perlis

44. “Barriers tend to intensify romance. It’s called the ‘Romeo and Juliet effect.’ I call it ‘frustration attraction.’” — Helen Fisher

45. “I make things of my own that aren’t that glam, but I’m not known for that, which has always been a bit of a frustration for me.” — Vera Wang

46. “Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.” — Kurt Vonnegut

47. “The worst frustration for a singer is choosing a career in making music and then not being able to make music because you’re always giving interviews.” — Shakira

48. “I’m not good in all emergencies. The frustration of an unopenable jar of jam can tip me over the edge, but at least I could use it adequately to cave in the heads of the undead.” — Sarah Millican

49. “My recipe for dealing with anger and frustration: set the kitchen timer for twenty minutes, cry, rant, and rave, and at the sound of the bell, simmer down and go about business as usual.” — Phyllis Diller

50. “My great frustration is that, more and more, my memories come and go, and friends all my life are not recognized. Many of the things I say and do, I can no longer remember even right afterward.” — Alex Spanos