100 Quotes About Grieving

Grieving is a natural part of life. It’s one of our greatest gifts. Grief can be healthy and necessary to move forward and heal after a loss. It brings us back to the reality that we all must eventually leave behind Read more

And we can’t always do it alone. If you feel like you need to talk, we’re here for you. Here are some of the best quotes about grieving and loss to help you get through the tough times.

Tears shed for another person are not a sign of...
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Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart. Unknown
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My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn't go away; it becomes a part of you, step for step, breath for breath. I will never stop grieving Bailey because I will never stop loving her. That's just how it is. Grief and love are conjoined, you don't get one without the other. All I can do is love her, and love the world, emulate her by living with daring and spirit and joy. . Jandy Nelson
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The great love is gone. There are still little loves - friend to friend, brother to sister, student to teacher. Will you deny yourself comfort at the hearthfire of a cottage because you may no longer sit by the fireplace of a palace? Will you deny yourself to those who reach out to you in hopes of warming themselves at your hearthfire? Mercedes Lackey
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In this sad world of ours sorrow comes to all and it often comes with bitter agony. Perfect relief is not possible except with time. You cannot now believe that you will ever feel better. But this is not true. You are sure to be happy again. Knowing this, truly believing it will make you less miserable now. I have had enough experience to make this statement. Abraham Lincoln
At the end of the day your ability to connect...
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At the end of the day your ability to connect with your readers comes down to how you make them feel. Benjamin J. Carey
Your memory feels like home to me. So whenever my...
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Your memory feels like home to me. So whenever my mind wanders, it always finds it’s way back to you. Ranata Suzuki
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For in grief nothing "stays put." One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. Am I going in circles, or dare I hope I am on a spiral? But if a spiral, am I going up or down it? How often -- will it be for always? -- how often will the vast emptiness astonish me like a complete novelty and make me say, "I never realized my loss till this moment"? The same leg is cut off time after time. . C.s. Lewis
My idea of God is not a divine idea. It...
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My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it Himself. C.s. Lewis
Death is harder on those who are left behind.
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Death is harder on those who are left behind. Robert La Fosse
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...what happens when you returnand find nothingbut a hollowed shell, shingles and floor, walls and echoesand the light that lead you herehas now burned outand the ones who built ithave traveled afarand you cant go to them, no matter what shoes you wear. Kellie Elmore
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Everyone was eating, talking softly, glancing at me, hugging me, eating. It was as if someone had turned the volume down. Everything looked normal, but the sound was muted. Death did this, set all this weirdness in motion, made people appear out of nowhere carrying casseroles, saying 'I'm sorry' over and over, death muffled their voices. Joan Abelove
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Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything. But no, that is not quite accurate. There is one place where her absence comes locally home to me, and it is a place I can't avoid. I mean my own body. It had such a different importance while it was the body of H.'s lover. Now it's like an empty house. C.s. Lewis
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If a mother is mourning not for what she has lost but for what her dead child has lost, it is a comfort to believe that the child has not lost the end for which it was created. And it is a comfort to believe that she herself, in losing her chief or only natural happiness, has not lost a greater thing, that she may still hope to "glorify God and enjoy Him forever." A comfort to the God-aimed, eternal spirit within her. But not to her motherhood. The specifically maternal happiness must be written off. Never, in any place or time, will she have her son on her knees, or bathe him, or tell him a story, or plan for his future, or see her grandchild. C.s. Lewis
Oh God, God, why did you take such trouble to...
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Oh God, God, why did you take such trouble to force this creature out of its shell if it is now doomed to crawl back -- to be sucked back -- into it? C.s. Lewis
As he watches the sun rise, what grieves him is...
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As he watches the sun rise, what grieves him is that he failed her. He thinks of the terror she felt. They tell him it was quick, as if that will somehow confine the horror. Nancy Horan
A funeral is no place for secrets.
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A funeral is no place for secrets. Mitch Albom
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…the sad part is, that I will probably end up loving you without you for much longer than I loved you when I knew you. Some people might find that strange. But the truth of it is that the amount of love you feel for someone and the impact they have on you as a person, is in no way relative to the amount of time you have known them. Ranata Suzuki
There is an ocean of silence between us… and I...
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There is an ocean of silence between us… and I am drowning in it. Ranata Suzuki
I had someone once who made every day mean something....
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I had someone once who made every day mean something. And now…. I am lost…. And nothing means anything anymore. Ranata Suzuki
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It’s painful, loving someone from afar. Watching them — from the outside. The once familiar elements of their life reduced to nothing more than occasional mentions in conversations and faces changing in photographs….. They exist to you now as nothing more than living proof that something can still hurt you … with no contact at all. Ranata Suzuki
If you cannot hold me in your arms, then hold...
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If you cannot hold me in your arms, then hold my memory in high regard. And if I cannot be in your life, then at least let me live in your heart. Ranata Suzuki
I miss that feeling of connection. Knowing he was out...
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I miss that feeling of connection. Knowing he was out there somewhere thinking about me at the same time I was thinking about him. Ranata Suzuki
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When you experience loss, people say you’ll move through the 5 stages of grief…. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance….. What they don’t tell you is that you’ll cycle through them all every day. Ranata Suzuki
The last time I felt alive — I was looking...
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The last time I felt alive — I was looking into your eyes. Breathing your air…. touching your skin…… Saying goodbye…. The last time I felt alive…. I was dying. Ranata Suzuki
He was both everything I could ever want… And nothing...
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He was both everything I could ever want… And nothing I could ever have… Ranata Suzuki
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I think perhaps I will always hold a candle for you — even until it burns my hand. And when the light has long since gone …. I will be there in the darkness holding what remains, quite simply because I cannot let go. Ranata Suzuki
Though these words will never find you, I hope that...
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Though these words will never find you, I hope that you knew I was thinking of you today….. and that I was wishing you every happiness. Love Always, The girl you loved once. Ranata Suzuki
I have poured my heart out ….And now I am...
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I have poured my heart out ….And now I am empty. Ranata Suzuki
The only place I ever felt at home was with...
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The only place I ever felt at home was with you. There isn’t a place for me anywhere anymore… I’ve been evicted. Ranata Suzuki
I would have followed you to hell and back... if...
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I would have followed you to hell and back... if only you'd lead me back. Ranata Suzuki
I raised you so high that every other man on...
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I raised you so high that every other man on earth is now doomed to live in your shadow. Ranata Suzuki
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Every quote, every book, every film seemed to suggest that ‘one day’ someone would come into my life and love me with an intensity and a passion I had never experienced before. And to their credit they were right; It all came and went so fast it really did feel as if it were just ‘one day’.... Ranata Suzuki
He looked at me like I was the stars when...
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He looked at me like I was the stars when all I’d ever felt like was the dark nothingness between them. Ranata Suzuki
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It’s the intricate details you miss the most. For me, it’s the soft lines around the eyes when he smiles… Or that look he gave me sometimes that I cannot begin to describe - but I would know it if I saw it again. It was the look that gave him away. I’d know that look anywhere… It used to be my everything. Ranata Suzuki
Like so many others my story begins with that same...
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Like so many others my story begins with that same old line…. ‘So anyway, there was this guy….’ Until one day…. there wasn’t. And nothing was ever the same after that…. Ranata Suzuki
Though life has fated that we never cross paths again,...
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Though life has fated that we never cross paths again, don’t ever feel alone. For we are parallel …. and I will always be by your side. Ranata Suzuki
Though it’s reasons to burn may vary... you are always...
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Though it’s reasons to burn may vary... you are always the fuel of my fire. Ranata Suzuki
It’s difficult for me to imagine the rest of my...
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It’s difficult for me to imagine the rest of my life without you. But I suppose I don’t have to imagine it... I just have to live it Ranata Suzuki
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It’s times like this…. when it’s over a year later and I’m still crying over you that I want to turn to you and say: See…. This is why I asked you never to kiss me. Ranata Suzuki
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My heart’s been empty since you left - but still I refuse to put up a vacancy sign. I’m just not ready for anybody else to move in yet. Ranata Suzuki
I write what I love. I will not stop —...
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I write what I love. I will not stop — even when my hand hurts….…. because I cannot stop — even though my heart hurts…. Ranata Suzuki
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I’d never dreamed anybody could love me the way he did. And even when he proved it to me time and again — I still could hardly believe it was true. Ranata Suzuki
It’s funny how we say a person ‘made’ us when...
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It’s funny how we say a person ‘made’ us when they actually broke us. Sort of like how I say ‘funny’... but I actually mean sad. Ranata Suzuki
How I wish I could undo it all … take...
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How I wish I could undo it all … take it all back… All those years I spent unhappy with him …. when I should have been looking for you. Ranata Suzuki
In a way, it was the same as any normal...
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In a way, it was the same as any normal break up. You took what was yours …. and I kept what I’d had from before we were together… You took my heart …. and I had nothing… Ranata Suzuki
They say “Follow your heart”….…. But I can’t follow you...
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They say “Follow your heart”….…. But I can’t follow you where you’re going… Ranata Suzuki
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They say the truth hurts. And these words hurt more than any I have ever written. But they are the truth — The cold, hard, undeniable truth. Not letting go doesn’t keep him with you. It’s still over. He’s still gone.… And nothing will ever change that. Ranata Suzuki
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Perhaps I was easier to shake off for you because you’re such a together person. I was just an extra layer on the outside… like a blanket you could shrug off and feel just the same…. except maybe a little colder…. But I was always a broken person that was haphazardly held together by little more than my own strength. And so you just seeped in the cracks and mingled with my insides until you became an inseparable part of me. And as painful as that is, it still kind of warms me to know I will always carry a part of you with me. Ranata Suzuki
It is the deepest of wrongs I am driven to...
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It is the deepest of wrongs I am driven to write…. And losing you was one of them. Ranata Suzuki
Your smile and your laughter lit my whole world.
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Your smile and your laughter lit my whole world. Ranata Suzuki
I don’t think you ever really understood….…. All the love...
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I don’t think you ever really understood….…. All the love I had in the world went to you. Ranata Suzuki
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How many times did we pass each other before we met? If only I’d known…. I would have searched for you endlessly. If only I’d found you before it was already too late. Ranata Suzuki
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When I was with him suddenly I wasn’t this broken person anymore. I was just me. I was whole again. I was just a person — like everyone else. Ranata Suzuki
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With you in my life I felt like I could conquer anything. It was as if I was on top of the world and even the stars themselves were just within my grasp. But without you …. even getting through the day is hard. Ranata Suzuki
I need to stop running back to you in my...
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I need to stop running back to you in my mind all the time. Ranata Suzuki
Our parting was like a stalemate…. Neither of us won....
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Our parting was like a stalemate…. Neither of us won. Yet both of us lost. And worse still … that unshakable feeling that nothing was ever really finished. Ranata Suzuki
Though I never really had you….… to me you will...
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Though I never really had you….… to me you will always be the one that got away. Ranata Suzuki
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You’re everything to me. But at best, I’m just a memory to you. Ranata Suzuki
A kiss….….. is just a kiss…. Until it’s all you...
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A kiss….….. is just a kiss…. Until it’s all you reminisce.( Then the memory becomes your most treasured possession.) Ranata Suzuki
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You can miss places. You can miss people. Just know that what you’re really missing is the way things were. And even if you could go there again…. see them again…. you can’t go back. They’re not the same. You’re not the same. The loss of them changed you. Ranata Suzuki
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If you’re searching for a quote that puts your feelings into words — you won’t find it. You can learn every language and read every word ever written — but you’ll never find what’s in your heart. How can you? He has it. Ranata Suzuki
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I didn’t love you to seek revenge. I didn’t love you out of loneliness or unhappiness. I didn’t love you for any of the misguided reasons that time might convince you I did. I just loved you because you’re you. Ranata Suzuki
It hurts that I was just one page in the...
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It hurts that I was just one page in the book of your life… But what hurts more is knowing you’ll revise that chapter someday….….. and you’ll erase me completely. Ranata Suzuki
I try to do something positive — I socialise more…...
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I try to do something positive — I socialise more… But deep down I know the truth. An entire world of people can never replace the one that I’ve lost. Ranata Suzuki
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It’s just never going to get any easier is it. It’s never going away, this missing you. It’s going to become a sadness I incorporate into myself — along with all the other sadnesses — and quietly carry around with me forever… Ranata Suzuki
I still think of you every day. But I’m trying...
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I still think of you every day. But I’m trying not to let it hurt me with the same intensity that it used to. Ranata Suzuki
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There’s only ever been one person I’ve looked at and thought…‘ I could quite easily spend the entire rest of my life with that man’. And sooner or later I need to accept that he’s spending it with somebody else. Ranata Suzuki
How do you love someone and just… walk away? Just...
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How do you love someone and just… walk away? Just like that. You just, go on as normal…. You get up, get dressed, go to work… How can you do that? How can you be okay with that? Ranata Suzuki
It isn't for the moment you are struck that you...
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It isn't for the moment you are struck that you need courage, but for that long uphill climb back to sanity and faith and security. Anne Morrow Lindbergh
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Of course, Mary Magdalene would have very little tolerance for the Christian platitudes and vapid optimism that seem to swirl around these kinds of tragic events. Those platitudes are tempting, but they're nothing but luxuries for people who've never had demons (or at least have never admitted to them). But equally, she would reject nihilism, or the idea that there is no real meaning in life or death - ideas present in so much of postmodernity. Those ideas, too, are luxuries, but they are for those who have never been freed from demons. . Nadia BolzWeber
Why write wrong if the writing won’t right the wrong?...
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Why write wrong if the writing won’t right the wrong? (90) Sandra M. Gilbert
Live your life in such a way that you'll be...
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Live your life in such a way that you'll be remembered for your kindness, compassion, fairness, character, benevolence, and a force for good who had much respect for life, in general. Germany Kent
How can I grieve what is still in motion?
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How can I grieve what is still in motion?" I ask her. "Shoes are still dropping all over the place. I´m not kidding, " I say. "It´s Normandy out there. Suzanne Finnamore
Had life not given me reasons to grieve, I would...
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Had life not given me reasons to grieve, I would never have known the healing power of a hug. Richelle E. Goodrich
Loss is an invitation to a journey of unparalleled growth,...
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Loss is an invitation to a journey of unparalleled growth, yet we seldom RSVP the invitation. Craig D. Lounsbrough
To ease a grieving heart is the world's greatest pleasure,...
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To ease a grieving heart is the world's greatest pleasure, more so, when the heart is yours. Radhika Mundra
Reading is, with friendship, one of the surest contributions to...
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Reading is, with friendship, one of the surest contributions to the work of grieving. It helps us, more generally, to grieve for the limitations of our life, the limitations of the human condition. Didier Anzieu
From under the ground, from under the waters, they clutch...
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From under the ground, from under the waters, they clutch at us, they clutch at us, we won’t let go. Margaret Atwood
On this day, take time to remember those who have...
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On this day, take time to remember those who have fallen. But on every day after, do more; put the freedoms they died for to greater and nobler uses. Richelle E. Goodrich
Art is my cure to all this madness, sadness and...
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Art is my cure to all this madness, sadness and loss of belonging in the world & through it I'll walk myself home. Nikki Rowe
In my gut-wrenching honesty and by acknowledging our big, big...
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In my gut-wrenching honesty and by acknowledging our big, big God, I found peace. Natalie Brenner
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From a medical standpoint, the third and the most probable explanation is that Jesus was indeed dead, and what his disciples experienced were mere hallucinations evoked by the grief over the loss of their beloved teacher. It is clinically known as “Post-Bereavement Hallucinations Experiences” or PBHE. Abhijit Naskar
Her death...brought me as nothing else could do to know...
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Her death...brought me as nothing else could do to know and end my jealousy of God. It saved her faith from assault. Sheldon Vanauken
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Chronic illness is hard. Pain is hard. Isolation is hard. The financial cost is hard. Grieving is hard and necessary and sometimes takes far longer than we every imagined. Cindee Snider Re
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Ava turned to the side, staring out into the dark. In profile, her face was suddenly tired and sad, and Cole felt the urge to wrap himself around her. To protect her from whatever was dragging her down. Danika Stone
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Faris turned on him. "Why choose to wear black today, of all days? I know why I'm in black. Why are you? Mourning?He looked startled. "One does not wear mourning for a servant." You still don't understand, do you? He was not my servant." He regarded her anger, aghast. "What then? What else could he be? Her empty hands shook as she held them out to him. Her voice shook as she replied, "Glove to my hand." Slowly she closed her fists. "Everything. . Caroline Stevermer
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Maybe when we face a tragedy, someone, somewhere is preventing a bigger tragedy from happening. Kamand Kojouri
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In trying moments, you must keep trying... In grieving times, don't think of giving up! Employ your passion to work; something great to enjoy is approaching! Israelmore Ayivor
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You can’t truly heal from a loss until you allow yourself to really FEEL the loss. Mandy Hale
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When my late father died – now I'm in mourning for my late mother – that sense of grief and bereavement suddenly taught me that so many things that I thought were important, externals, etc., all of that is irrelevant. You lose a parent, you suddenly realize what a slender thing life is, how easily you can lose those you love. Then out of that comes a new simplicity and that is why sometimes all the pain and the tears lift you to a much higher and deeper joy when you say to the bad times, "I will not let you go until you bless me. Jonathan Sacks
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And, I think, this greening does thaw at the edges, at least, of my own cold season. Joy sneaks in: listening to music, riding my bicycle, I catch myself feeling, in a way that’s as old as I am but suddenly seems unfamiliar, light. I have felt so heavy for so long. At first I felt odd- as if I shouldn’t be feeling this lightness, that familiar little catch of pleasure in the heart which is inexplicable, though a lovely passage of notes or the splendidly turned petal of a tulip has triggered it. It’s my buoyancy, part of what keeps me alive: happy, suddenly with the concomitant experience of a sonata and the motion of the shadows of leaves. I have the desire to be filled with sunlight, to soak my skin in as much of it as I can drink up, after the long interior darkness of this past season, the indoor vigil, in this harshest and darkest of winters, outside and in. Mark Doty
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I’ve been moving a little to the music while I worked …and then I realize I am actually dancing. It feels wonderful, though I can feel how stiff my muscles are, how rigidly I’ve been holding myself… Mostly I’ve been moving cautiously, numbly, steeled because I know, at any moment, I may be ambushed by overwhelming grief. You never know when it’s coming, the word or gesture or bit of memory that dissolved you entirely… It happens every day at first, then not for a day or two, then there’s a week when grief washes in every morning, every afternoon. Mark Doty
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Remember Old Nan's stories, Bran. Remember the way she told them, the sound of her voice. So long as you do that, part of her will always be alive in you. George R.r. Martin
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The present is too often squandered grieving the past or fearing the future, which makes the present nothing more than a cheap facsimile of what was or what will be instead of what it could be. Craig D. Lounsbrough
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That was the hard thing about grief, and the grieving. They spoke another language, and the words we knew always fell short of what we wanted them to say. Sarah Dessen
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You aren’t falling apart. You’re well beyond that. You’re just rattling along now. Elven dolls doing what little you can to gather the pieces as they fall away. But you don’t know how to properly reattach them–a doll does not repair itself. So you hug those brittle fragments to your chest until you simply cannot hug anymore. Until you’ve had to leave so many behind that you no longer remember what it is you’re missing. . Darrell Drake
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I feel . low, " I say, looking away. "Like, literally low. Flat. It's not . sad, exactly. I mean, sad too, obviously. But that's a different feeling, I guess." She nods. "There's a reason it's called 'depression' and not 'chronic sadness' or 'manic sorrow.'" She picks up a foam stress ball and squeezes it, leaving imprints of her fingers. "Depressions like these are holes left behind by a physical force. With mental depression, the force can be chemical or situational or both, but it doesn't just make a hole--it presses you into one that feels impossible to escape. . Kate Hart
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What an awful thing then, being there in our house together with our daughter gone, trying to be equal to so many sudden orders of sorrow, any one of which alone would have wrenched us from our fragile orbits around each other. Paul Harding
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To multiply the years and divide by the desire to live is a kind of false accounting. Peter Heller
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The train blows through towndelivering reality, slapping my face and screaming, “ You are alone” Rose colored memories drown, taking their last breath. Kellie Elmore