150 Betrayal Quotes To Help You Cope And Grow Stronger

I’ve been betrayed. I survived. Not only survived but became wiser and stronger.

But let me tell you something, betrayal hurts. Sugar-coating and toxic positivity won’t help you. Betrayal hurts and that’s normal.

If you’ve been betrayed and looking for words of empathy for your pain, here are some deep betrayal quotes to help you process your emotions.

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Top 10 Betrayal Quotes

1. “In law, a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.” — Immanuel Kant

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2. “The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed, but that he cannot believe anyone else.” — George Bernard Shaw

3. “We can depend on nobody in this world, and sometimes we even betray ourselves.” — Dean Cavanagh

4. “He who trusts the world, the world betrays him.” ― Ali Ibn Abi Talib AS

5. “Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.” — John Le Carre

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6. “It is undoubtedly easier to believe in absolutes, follow blindly, mouth received wisdom. But that is self-betrayal.” — John Ralston Saul

7. “Don’t depend too much on anyone in this world because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness.” — Ibn Taymiyyah

8. “Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime.” ― Mineko Iwasaki

9. “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

10. “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

Deep Betrayal Quotes

1. “Shattered legs may heal in time, but some betrayals fester and poison the soul.” ― George R.R. Martin

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2. “Betrayal is about learning not to idealize external sources.” — Linda Talley

3. “The most dangerous follower is the one whose defection would destroy the whole party: hence, the best follower.” — Friedrich Nietzsche

4. ”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

5. “Trust is earned, respect is given, and loyalty is demonstrated. Betrayal of any one of those is to lose all three.” — Ziad K. Abdelnour

6. “We are not wounded so deeply when betrayed by the things we hope for as when betrayed by things we try our best to despise. In such betrayal comes the dagger in the back.” ― Yukio Mishima

7. “They can betray me but I choose not to betray my peace of mind.” — Dodinsky

8. “Sincerity is a great but rare virtue, and we pardon to it much complaining, and the betrayal of many weaknesses.” ― Henry David Thoreau

9. “If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you’re allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.” ― Shannon L. Alder

10. “There is always a lesson of a lifetime to learn in every betrayal.” — Edmond Mbiaka

11. “Words don’t have the power to hurt you unless that person meant more to you than you are willing to confess.” — Shannon L. Alder

12. “As pessimistic as I am about the nature of human beings and our capacity for atrocity and malevolence and betrayal and laziness and inertia, and all those things, I think we can transcend all that and set things straight.” — Jordan Peterson

13. “We are not wounded so deeply when betrayed by the things we hope for as when betrayed by things we try our best to despise. In such betrayal comes the dagger in the back.” — Yukio Mishima

14. “We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.” — Joan Didion

15. “Betraying yourself is a gateway to harming your future self.” ― Angel Moreira

16. “If you’re betrayed, release disappointment at once. By that way, the bitterness has no time to take root.” ― Toba Beta

17. “Always seek less turbulent skies. Hurt. Fly above it. Betrayal. Fly above it. Anger. Fly above it. You are the one who is flying the plane.” ― Marianne Williamson

18. ”I may be many things, and there are even more I am not, but I would never do to you what you did to me, and I think that says a lot.” — Jessica Katoff

19. “It’s a shame that the very people who you protect are the first ones to turn their backs on you.” — Autumn Kohler

20. “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

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Lost Trust Quotes

1. “For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.” ― Suzanne Collins

2. “A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.” — Cally, Blakes 7, “Mission to Destiny”

3. “But now the joy is gone and the sadness is back, the sadness feels like something deserved, the price of some not-quite-forgotten betrayal.” — Stephen King

4. “Betraying someone once can be a mistake. Betraying someone twice is a choice.” ― Garima Soni

5. ”All trust involves vulnerability and risk, and nothing would count as trust if there were no possibility of betrayal.” — Robert C. Solomon

6. “Trust was a double-edged sword. It could give you hope, but it could cut you in an instant when it was broken.” — Tiffany King

7. “It was a mistake,” you said. But the cruel thing was, it felt like the mistake was mine, for trusting you.” — David Levithan

8. “You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment unless you trust enough.” — Frank Crane

9. “Betrayal is like death: you never think it will happen to you.” ― Marty Rubin

10. “Trust, once lost, could not be easily found. Not in a year, perhaps not even in a lifetime.”― J.E.B. Spredemann

11. “The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” — Ernest Hemingway

12. “There’s no black and no white, just shades of grey…But the small betrayals lead to bigger ones, morality is eroded.” ― Kate Mosse

13. “He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore.” — Sigmund Freud

14. “Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity and not having dignity in life. That’s really where failure comes.” — Tom Cochrane

15. “I thought of betrayal and how it came so easily – in a word, a glance, a gesture.” — Juliet Marillier

16. “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

17. “Broken trust forces us, first, to acknowledge a painful reality we may have chosen to ignore, then, to make some difficult decisions.” — Dr. Jane Greer

18. “Trust cannot be broken only taken back from people not worthy of it.” ― Jackie Viramontez

19. “A major betrayal can decrease our capacity to trust ourselves. Because it slams us over the head and pierces us at our core, we feel vulnerable and wounded.” — Dennis S. Reina

20. “The moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door will open.” — Rumi

Relationship Betrayal Quotes

1. “That was how dishonesty and betrayal started, not in big lies but in small secrets.” — Amy Tan

2. “My heart is the throne of the Beloved, the Beloved the heart’s destiny: Whoever breaks another’s heart will find no homecoming in this world or any other.” — Yunus Emre

3. “Let’s call cheating what it is: a complete betrayal of trust.” — Greg Behrendt

14. “Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity

4. “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

5. “Why is it that loving something provides such little protection from betrayal?” — Ayelet Waldman

6. “I could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts, in every part of my body.” ― Veronica Roth

7. “People are always fascinated by infidelity because in the end – whether we’ve had direct experience or not – there’s part of you that knows there’s absolutely no more piercing betrayal. People are undone by it.” — Junot Diaz

8. “He, who had done more than any human being to draw her out of the caves of her secret, folded life, now threw her down into deeper recesses of fear and doubt. The fall was greater than she had ever known because she had ventured so far into emotion and had abandoned herself to it.” ― Anaïs Nin

9. “I will take his secret to the grave, telling people along the way. Betrayal is no sin if it is whimsical.” — Tom Stoppard

10. “All love is betrayal, in that it flatters life. The loveless man is best armed.” — John Updike

11. “Shame, blame, disrespect, betrayal, and the withholding of affection damage the roots from which love grows. Love can only survive these injuries if they are acknowledged, healed and rare.” ― Brené Brown

12. “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

13. “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

14. “Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.” ― William Shakespeare

15. “Loving someone is giving them the power to break your heart, but trusting them not to.” — Julianne Moore

16. “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

17. “When you care about someone, you can’t just turn that off because you learn they betrayed you.” ― Paula Stokes

18. “I’m not really sure why. But… do you stop loving someone just because they betray you? I don’t think so. That’s what makes the betrayal hurt so much – pain, frustration, anger… and I still loved her. I still do.” ― Brandon Sanderson

19. “Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings.” — Anais Nin

20. “Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness.” — Steve Maraboli

Friend Betrayal Quotes

1. “Lord, protect me from my friends; I can take care of my enemies.” — Robert Greene

2. “By betrayal, I mean promising to be on your side, then being on somebody else’s.” — Jeanette Winterson

3. “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.” — William Blake

4. “I didn’t lose a friend, I just realized I never had one.” — Unknown

5. “Judas betrayed his friend for 30 pieces of silver. The rest of us do it for far less.” — Marty Rubin

6. “I would never betray a friend to serve a cause. Never reject a friend to help an institution. Great nations may fall in ruin before I would sell a friend to save them.” — Edward Abbey

7. “I lay it down as a fact that if all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world.” ― Blaise Pascal

8. ”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

9. “Betrayal hurts, but I consider it a gift because it has taught me about God, life, others, and myself.” — Cora Jakes-Coleman

10. “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.

11. ”Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” — Proverbs 27:6

12. “Some people are willing to betray years of friendship just to get a little bit of the spotlight.” — Lauren Conrad

13. “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

14. “I lay it down as a fact that if all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world.” ― Blaise Pascal

15. “A stab from a friend cuts deeper than a stab from a foe.” ― Amit Kalantri

16. “The knives of betrayal and drama cut deep and hurt… but they also trim away the nonsense and reveal your true friends.” — Steve Maraboli

17. “It was easy to be a friend when times were good. It was in hard times that true friends revealed themselves. Their friendship had been forged in the hottest of fires and fused them into the family.” — Karen Brooks

18. “If the betrayal is not taken seriously enough, the memories and wounds of the affair will likely remain, though often hidden from view.” — Herbert Anderson

19. “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

20. “Eliminate those fake friends who seem real when you have something and disappear when you have nothing.” — Rashida Rowe

Quotes About Family Betrayal

1. “When betrayal is at the root of your pain, something horrible is unleashed.” — Susan Pive

2. “There is tremendous trauma in the betrayal caused by a perpetual liar as they repeatedly commit psychological abuse.” ― Cathy Burnham Martin

3. “Sometimes family was the cruelest form of love there was, for no one could hurt you more than the people who created you.” — SC Stephens

4. “Family! . . . the home of all social evil, a charitable institution for comfortable women, an anchorage for house-fathers, and a hell for children.” — August Strindberg

5. “Sometimes the people closest to you betray you, and your home isn’t a place you can be happy anymore.” — Kristin Cas

6. “Enemies are always born in your bloodlines. When in doubt always turn your head to your bloodlines. You will definitely find a solution to your problem!” ― Fahad Basheer

7. “Betrayal annihilates trust. The more trust there is to begin with, and the more deception is involved, the more damage is done.” ― Sandra Lee Dennis

8. “They say family’s first, but family is the first to get you hurt.” — Chrisper Malamsha

9. “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

10. “Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it’s the place where we find the deepest heartache.” — Iyanla Vanzant

11. “It’s particularly hard to take being stabbed in the back close to home. There’s always a feeling of betrayal when people of your own group oppose you.” — Catharine MacKinnon

12. “Betrayal, though… betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope.” — Peter Randall

13. “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

14. “For a toxic mother, the natural passage of their children into their independence is experienced as an act of betrayal against her. If toxic mothers are not getting the attention they crave from their children, they experience their children as inconveniences who stand in their way of doing what they want to do for themselves.” — Dr. Sherrie Campbell

15. “Love them from a distance. Pray for them, wish them well, but don’t allow them to abuse you.” — Kimber Waul

16. “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

17. “Be certain that he who has betrayed thee once will betray thee again.” — Johann Caspar Lavater

18. “If our blood family is abusive, we have every right to open our heart and our life to new and healthier people capable of loving in the same ways we love. Doing this is not a betrayal. It’s our right.” — Dr. Sherrie Campbell

19. “I learned not to trust people; I learned not to believe what they say but to watch what they do. I learned to suspect that everyone is capable of living a lie. I came to believe that other people – even when you think you know them well – are ultimately unknowable.” — Lynn Barber

20. “Blood makes you related, loyalty makes you family.” — unknown

Eye-Opening Quotes About Betrayal

1. “If someone betrays you once, it’s their fault. If they betray you twice, it’s your fault.” — Eleanor Roosevelt

2. “The betrayal of a belief is not the same thing as ceasing to believe. If this were not so there would be no moral standards in the world at all.” — James Baldwin

3. “Betrayal can be extremely painful, but it’s up to you how much that pain damages you permanently.” — Emily V. Gordon

4. “We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.” — Tennessee Williams

5. “It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.” ― Confucius

6. “There is nothing in which people more betray their character than in what they laugh at.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

7. ”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

8. “When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself.” — Isaac Bashevis Singer

9. “Betrayal leaves us at a fork in the road. We can become stuck in a bad moment forever or we can put it behind us for good. We decide our path.” — Carmen Harra

10. ”He who advises you to be reserved to your friends wishes to betray you without witnesses.” — Don J. Manuel

11. “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

12. “Confession is not betrayal. What you say or do doesn’t matter; only feelings matter. If they could make me stop loving you-that would be the real betrayal.” ― George Orwell

13. ”You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise.” — Maya Angelou

14. “So this was betrayal. It was like being left alone in the desert at dusk without water or warmth. It left your mouth dry and will broken. It sapped your tears and made you hollow.” — Anna Godbersen

15. “For only when faithfulness turns to betrayal and betrayal into trust can any human being become part of the truth.” — Rumi

16. “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

17. “When you loved someone and had to let them go, there will always be that small part of yourself that whispers, “What was it that you wanted and why didn’t you fight for it?” ― Shannon L. Alder

18. “Naturally, when one makes progressive steps, there may be some who see it as a betrayal of their goals and interests.” — Louis Farrakhan

19. “If you spend your time hoping someone will suffer the consequences for what they did to your heart, then you’re allowing them to hurt you a second time in your mind.” — Shannon L. Alder

20. “When no one you know tells the truth, you learn to see under the surface.” ― Cassandra Clare

Backstabbing Quotes

1. “Grow a thick skin, a very thick skin. And watch your back. For every back, there is a knife.” — Lily Chatterjee

2. “Be very careful of who you share your problem with, remember that not every friend that smiles at you is your best friend.” ― Kemmy Nola

3. “It’s hard to tell who has your back, from who has it long enough just to stab you in it….” ― Nicole Richie

4. “Although I’m proposing these two rules to strengthen your ability to deal with backstabbing, you’re still going to have to protect yourself – you don’t want to get stabbed in the front for your troubles.” — Ronny J. Coleman

5. “Beware the person who stabs you and tells the world they’re the one who’s bleeding.” — Jill Blakeway

6. “When someone stabs you in the back and then apologizes, accept the apology, but don’t give him the knife back to do it again.” — Bohdi Sanders

7. ”Backstabbers specialize in saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong person.” — Les Parrott

8. “You know that you have been stabbed when you feel the deep pain of betrayal.” — Les Parrott

9. “Letting go is certainly not easy, but forgiveness need not be a part of that process when the wrongdoer has done nothing to earn it. There is no one path to healing.” — Harriet Lerner

10. “In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.” — Martin Luther King Jr.

11. “From the backstabbing co-worker to the meddling sister-in-law, you are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead. Take control and choose to focus on what is important in your life. Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.” — Anais Nin

12. ”Dealing with backstabbers, there was one thing I learned. They’re only powerful when you got your back turned.” — Eminem

13. “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

14. “Just because they say they’re praying for you in your face, doesn’t mean they aren’t laughing at your struggle behind your back.” — Trent Shelton

15. “Better to have an enemy who slaps you in the face than a friend who stabs you in the back.” — unknown

16. “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

17. “It’s a shame that the very people who you protect are the first ones to turn their backs on you.” — Autumn Kohler

18. “Don’t expose yourself to danger, mockery, shame, counterfeit friends or allies, someone who cannot defend you in your absence, will do nothing to cover your nakedness in the open.” ― Bamigboye Olurotimi

19. “People on the top seldom have enemies, it’s most often the flattering ‘friend’ who stabs them in the back.” ― Amit Abraham

20. “One fake friend can do more harm than 10 enemies… Be smart choosing your friends.” — Ziad K. Abdelnour

Wrapping It Up

I hope these betrayal quotes have helped you cope with the pain you’re feeling. Here at Quotement, we have plenty of inspirational quotes to cheer you up and motivate you to keep going.

Check them out!