When someone betrays your trust, it can feel like a cold sharp knife slicing through your chest. The pain can be so intense that it feels like you’ll never recover. And sometimes you don’t. Betrayal leaves behind a trail of destruction, breaking apart families and friendships, ruining careers and lives.
But what is betrayal, really? Webster’s dictionary defines it as “the breaking or violation of a trust or confidence.” So what does that mean? When do we cross the line from being betrayed to betraying someone else? Is there ever a justification for breaking that trust?
These are tough questions with no easy answers. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to find them. Below you’ll find a collection of quotes about betrayal from some of history’s greatest minds, both past and present. Hopefully, their words will help you make sense of your own experience with betrayal, or help you avoid betraying someone else.
Betrayal quotes
1.) “It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”
2.) ”To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.”
3.) “Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.”
4.) “The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies.”
5.) “Then I’ll make you a promise too, Tally Youngblood. Until you do help us, to the very best of your ability, you will never be pretty.”
6.) “Anyone who hasn’t experienced the ecstasy of betrayal knows nothing about ecstasy at all.”
7.) “Nothing hurts more than being disappointed by the single person you thought would never hurt you.”
8.) “He felt at once betrayed and betrayer, deceived and deceiver. He was a criminal forced into crime.”
9.) “I used to advertise my loyalty and I don’t believe there is a single person I loved that I didn’t eventually betray.”
10.) ”You know that you have been stabbed when you feel the deep pain of betrayal.”
Trust and betrayal quotes
11.) “It was a mistake,” you said. But the cruel thing was, it felt like the mistake was mine, for trusting you.”
12.) “Betrayal is one of my biggest fears. Betrayal happens on many different levels all the time, and there is no worse feeling than realizing someone you thought you could trust has gone against you.”
13.) “Sometimes the person you’d take a bullet for is behind the trigger.”
14.) “I see a few friends – people I used to think were my friends – but they look away.”
15.) “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.”
16.) ”If you’re betrayed, release disappointment at once. By that way, the bitterness has no time to take root.”
17.) “The fear really hits you. That’s what you feel first. And then it’s the anger and frustration. Part of the problem is how little we understand about the ultimate betrayal of the body when it rebels against itself.”
18.) “Betrayal doesn’t only break your heart but also darkens your soul. You’ll never forget the pain like a fog that forever lingers in the depths of your mind.”
19.) “I knew that what I was seeking to discover was a thing I’d always known. That all courage was a form of constancy. That it was always himself that the coward abandoned first. After this all other betrayals came easily.”
20.) “Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime.”
Also read: Quotes about cheating in relationship
Quotes on betrayal
21.) “I could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts, in every part of my body.”
22.) ”Betrayal is never easy to handle and there is no right way to accept it.”
23.) “I have never known a more vulgar expression of betrayal and deceit.”
24.) ”It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.”
25.) “Ye have told me so often to-night that I am a man (though indeed I would have been a wolf with you to my life’s end) that I feel your words are true.”
26.) ”All trust involves vulnerability and risk, and nothing would count as trust if there were no possibility of betrayal.”
27.) “There is always a lesson of a lifetime to learn in every betrayal.”
28.) “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?”
29.) “To me, the thing that is worse than death is betrayal. You see, I could conceive death, but I could not conceive betrayal.”
30.) “You teach me now how cruel you’ve been—cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart, Cathy? I have not one word of comfort.”
Loyalty and betrayal quotes
31.) “Betrayal can be extremely painful, but it’s up to you how much that pain damages you permanently.”
32.) “I could never hurt him enough to make his betrayal stop hurting. And it hurts, in every part of my body.”
33.) “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.”
34.) “Most of us regard good luck as our right, and bad luck as a betrayal of that right.”
35.) “The worst mistake a man can make is to betray a woman who actually fought the world for him and stood by him and supported him when he was going through the worst in his life.”
36.) “See? I’m almost as good as your father!” She said it in a shy way, laughing a little. I felt betrayed, but I didn’t know why. ”
37.) “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.”
38.) “Some of the most poisonous people come disguised as friends.”
39.) ”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.”
40.) “When I’m doing a play like ‘Betrayal,’ I have to be careful not to get stimulation overload.”
Friendship betrayal quotes
41.) ”Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
42.) ”Betray a friend and you’ll often find you have ruined yourself.”
43.) “Some people are willing to betray years of friendship just to get a little bit of the spotlight.”
44.) “Betrayal is never easy to handle and there is no right way to accept it.”
45.) “When no one you know tells the truth, you learn to see under the surface.”
46.) “You are enough to drive a saint to madness or a king to his knees.”
47.) “The worst kind of hurt is betrayal, because it means that someone will willing to hurt you just to make themselves feel better.”
48.) “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.”
49.) “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.”
50.) “When someone betrays you, it is a reflection of their character, not yours.”
Relationship betrayal quotes
51.) “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.”
52.) “A true gentleman is one that apologizes anyways, even though he has not offended a lady intentionally. He is in a class all of his own because he knows the value of a woman’s heart.”
53.) “It hurts to breathe. It hurts to live. I hate her, yet I do not think I can exist without her.”
54.) “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.”
55.) “For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.”
56.) “Love is whatever you can still betray. Betrayal can only happen if you love.”
57.) “Betrayal is common for men with no conscience.”
58.) “Beware the person that stabs you and then tells the world they’re bleeding!”
59.) “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.”
60.) “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.”
Final thoughts
Betrayal is an inevitable part of the human experience, whether it’s a broken promise to a friend, being cheated on by a loved one, or being lied to by a business partner. It hurts, and we all feel the pain in different ways. But what can we do with that pain? We can choose to let it consume us, or we can use it as motivation to become better people. We hope these betrayal quotes have helped you reflect on your own experiences and motivated you to move forward in spite of them. What is your favorite quote about betrayal? Let us know in the comments!