Betrayal means the act of being disloyal or unfaithful to someone who trusts you. It involves breaking a promise, violating someone’s trust or confidence, or going against a person’s expectations. Betrayal can take many forms, such as cheating on a partner, revealing someone’s secrets, or betraying a friend’s confidence.
The feeling of betrayal can be incredibly painful and damaging, often causing feelings of anger, sadness, and loss of trust. Betrayal can have long-lasting effects on relationships and can lead to a breakdown in trust that may be difficult to repair. It is important to communicate openly and honestly with others to prevent misunderstandings and potential betrayals.
Betrayal Quotes
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
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
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
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
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
51. “A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.”
– Cally
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
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
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
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
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
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
101. “Betrayal is difficult to process. It is difficult to understand, even on the most basic level.”
– Jon Bush
102. “Betrayal is only betrayal when it’s done as an act of carelessness towards our partners.”
– Rosana Nassar
103. “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
104. “It’s no wonder that the first response to betrayal is likely to be denial.”
– Susan Pive
105. “Betrayal, though… betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope.”
– Peter Randall
106. “When betrayal is at the root of your pain, something horrible is unleashed.”
– Susan Pive
107. “Betrayal is so common that its scope can scarcely be imagined. It is the main theme of our literature and history.”
– Judith N. Shklar
108. “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
109. “Betrayal hurts, but I consider it a gift because it has taught me about God, life, others, and myself.”
– Cora Jakes-Coleman
110. “Betrayal is, of course, not a failure of trust but a failure of trustworthiness.”
– Russell Hardin
111. “One has to endure betrayal and disloyalty and, hardest of all , another person’s excellence of character or intellect.”
– Sándor Márai
112. “Self interest determines loyalty or betrayal.”
– James Cook
113. “Anyone who’s never experienced the pleasure of betrayal doesn’t know what pleasure is.”
– Jean Genet
114. “For only when faithfulness turns to betrayal And betrayal into trust Can any human being become part of the truth.”
– Rumi
115. “I thought of betrayal and how it came so easily – in a word, a glance, a gesture.”
– Juliet Marillier
116. “By betrayal, I mean promising to be on your side, then being on somebody else’s.”
– Jeanette Winterson
117. “I never thought honor would feel like betrayal.”
– Hilari Bell
118. “A time comes when silence is betrayal.”
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
119. “Let’s just say I understand betrayal. And having been where he is, I know the explosion to come. Trust me. ‘Duck’ won’t quite cover it. (Sin)”
– Sherrilyn Kenyon
120. “Why is it that loving something provides such little protection from betrayal?”
– Ayelet Waldman
121. “Even loss and betrayal can bring us awakening.”
– Buddha
122. “Whether you’re a vampire or werewolf, love is still love. Betrayal is still betrayal.”
– Nathan Parsons
123. “Betrayal is about learning not to idealize external sources.”
– Linda Talley
124. “Blame and betrayal are the emotional enemies of improvement.”
– Andy Hargreaves
125. “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.”
– Katie Lee
126. “We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds.”
– Maeve Binchy
127. “All love is betrayal, in that it flatters life. The loveless man is best armed.”
– John Updike
128. “It’s absolutely fatal to your writing to think about how your work will be received. It’s a betrayal of whatever talent you have.”
– Nadine Gordimer
129. “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
130. “There are only really a few stories to tell in the end, and betrayal and the failure of love is one of those good stories to tell.”
– Sean Lennon
131. “Shy and unready men are great betrayers of secrets, for there are few wants more urgent for the moment than the want of something to say.”
– Henry Taylor
132. “Betrayal, in all forms, is painful. It can make you go crazy. But we all have choices on how to deal with it. Do we just go away or stay?”
– Anne Curtis
133. “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
134. “Betrayal. It’s one of the worst feelings.”
– Jay Asher
135. “What had seemed like love was betrayal.”
– Claudia Gray
136. “There’s no black and no white, just shades of grey…But the small betrayals lead to bigger ones, morality is eroded.”
– Kate Mosse
137. “Sincerity is a great but rare virtue, and we pardon to it much complaining, and the betrayal of many weaknesses.”
– Henry David Thoreau
138. “I’ve always been drawn to stories and characters facing some sort of struggle against forces beyond our control, be it love, loss, betrayal.”
– Nathan Parsons
139. “Shattered legs may heal in time, but some betrayals fester and poison the soul.”
– George R. R. Martin
140. “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