6 Worst and 9 Best Breakup Lines When You Want to Dump Someone

two halves of a broken heart on cell phone

Jamie Grill / Getty Images

Your relationship is not working out. You have hit a dead-end, and now your relationship is a cesspool of broken promises, jealousy, and boredom. You know that you have to end the relationship, but how do you approach this issue sensitively? If you handle things callously, you may end up with a bruised eye. If you are oversensitive, you may end hanging on to a dead relationship, feeling bitter and exhausted.

Breaking up with someone is never easy. Especially, if you have been with that person for a long time. However, if things come to a head, and you feel it is time to move on, it is best to have a clean break up without carrying the burden of heartbreak or unspoken feelings.

Saying unkind words, calling each other names, or simply shutting all communication with your partner are extremely bad ways to break up. If you expect to be in a healthy relationship, you should at least have the maturity to break up without being abusive or selfish.

6 Bad Breakup Lines to Avoid

If you don’t want your current girlfriend or boyfriend to become a stalking ex, or your spouse to file for divorce on grounds of mental harassment, you must ensure that the breakup does not become an ugly brawl. Also, how you express to your partner that you are breaking up with her will go a long way in restoring her faith in relationships and men. Here are six common breakup lines that can land you in trouble.

“It’s not you, it’s me.”

This is a classic excuse when you want to avoid confrontation. Though it may seem non-accusatory, this breakup line is not fair because you don’t give the person a chance to find out what really went wrong. Worse, it's usually not true: there are usually reasons for breaking up that relate to incompatibility on both sides.

So what do you do, if it is really not her, but you that is the problem in the relationship? What if you mean it, sincerely? If it’s really not her, but you that is the problem, explain why that's the case. Perhaps you are truly unable to commit to a long-term relationship because you are financially insecure, or emotionally overwhelmed, or still in love with your ex. If there really is something going on with you that makes a relationship impossible at this time, don’t leave without offering a genuine explanation for the breakup.

2. “I want to take it slow.”

To most people, "I want to take it slow" means "I like you and want to pursue this relationship but at a different speed." While it's possible that your partner will respond by walking away from the relationship altogether, a decent human being will see an opening to a conversation about how you'd like to proceed. Do you want to get together less frequently? Slow down your physical relationship?  

Bottom line, asking to "take it slow" is a great way to slow down the pace of your romance (assuming that you're in the early stages of getting to know one another). It's a poor way to actually end a relationship, and it's almost certainly the wrong thing to say if you've been in a committed relationship for years!

3. “I am not ready for a relationship.”

If you were not ready to be involved, what were you doing all along? Why put on a charade, and then pull the plug just when your partner was getting serious? A breakup line such as this one shows that you have no respect for your partner’s feelings. It is okay to not want to take the relationship to the next level if you are not ready. However, it is not fair that you choose to break off the relationship because you suddenly realized that what you thought was a fairy tale romance was actually a real-world relationship with a flawed human being.

4. “Let’s just be friends.”

This is the most dangerous breakup line, ever. It sounds like you are giving a compensatory reward to your partner by promising to be “friends.” Really? Do you expect her to buy that? Did you know that by promising to be friends, you are asking for trouble? Breakups are hard, and at this vulnerable moment, you might end up together on a rebound. Because, hey, you said you wanted to be “friends,” right? If you truly continue to spend time together as "friends," you may never be able to move on and never able to fully commit to your partner.

5. “I will always love you, but never like that.”

Did you suddenly decide to become a saint? If you ever decide to use this breakup line, don’t be surprised if you end up with a bloody nose or an egg on your face. Why would you say that you love her when you don’t? Many people use this breakup line in the heat of the moment, hoping to diffuse the tension. However, this breakup line will always haunt you, even after you have long moved on. Don’t throw crumbs at your partner. It is not fair for you to break her heart, after leading her on to believe that you loved her.

6. "You're great, but it is really your sister I fancy."

Even if this is the truth, please don't blurt it out. Some truths are best buried. You date a girl, only to later fall in love with her sister. How do you think she's going to take the news? Would she hug you and say, "Oh wow! I'm so happy to have you as my boyfriend and brother-in-law!"? Or would she kick you out of her house and her life, the moment you utter those words? And what good would it do you to inform her that your heart flutters at the sight of her sister? No self-respecting girl would ever take this breakup line well.

9 Good Breakup Lines to Try

Here are 9 famous quotes to use for breakup lines. They help to communicate the pain of breakup without seeming over the top. Use them to create your own personal breakup line. Borrow the ideas without making it clichéd. Let your breakup line be as memorable as your pickup line was. 

Maggi Richard

Two words. Three vowels. Four consonants. Seven letters. It can either cut you open to the core and leave you in ungodly pain or it can free your soul and lift a tremendous weight off your shoulders. The phrase is: It's over.

Marilyn Monroe

Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.

Sarah Mlynowski

Just because a relationship ends, it doesn’t mean it’s not worth having.

Alex Elle

I’m thankful for my struggle because without it I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.

Amit Kalantri

I cannot compromise my respect for your love. You can keep your love, I will keep my respect.

Judith McNaught, Paradise

Either give me your hand, or end it now, and put us both out of our misery.

Lone Star

I’m going to smile and make you think I’m happy, I’m going to laugh, so you don’t see me cry, I’m going to let you go in style, and even if it kills me—I’m going to smile.

Fannie Flagg, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

You know, a heart can be broken, but it keeps on beating, just the same.

S. B. Morse, Now and at the Hour of Our Death

A broken heart is just the growing pains necessary so that you can love more completely when the real thing comes along.

Format
mla apa chicago
Your Citation
Khurana, Simran. "6 Worst and 9 Best Breakup Lines When You Want to Dump Someone." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/best-and-worst-breakup-lines-4033861. Khurana, Simran. (2023, April 5). 6 Worst and 9 Best Breakup Lines When You Want to Dump Someone. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/best-and-worst-breakup-lines-4033861 Khurana, Simran. "6 Worst and 9 Best Breakup Lines When You Want to Dump Someone." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/best-and-worst-breakup-lines-4033861 (accessed March 28, 2024).