Grief Inspirational Quotes

“So it’s true, when all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri, Brushstrokes of a Gadfly

“Perhaps ...
To R.A.L.

Perhaps some day the sun will shine again,
And I shall see that still the skies are blue,
And feel one more I do not live in vain,
Although bereft of you.

Perhaps the golden meadows at my feet,
Will make the sunny hours of spring seem gay,
And I shall find the white May-blossoms sweet,
Though You have passed away.

Perhaps the summer woods will shimmer bright,
And crimson roses once again be fair,
And autumn harvest fields a rich delight,
Although You are not there.

But though kind Time may many joys renew,
There is one greatest joy I shall not know
Again, because my heart for loss of You
Was broken, long ago.”
― Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth

“Everyone who lives long enough to love deeply will experience great losses. Don't let fear of loss, or the losses themselves, take away your ability to enjoy the wonderful life that is yours.”
― Barbara "Cutie" Cooper, Fall in Love for Life: Inspiration from a 73-Year Marriage

“The best way to make a line appear shorter without touching it is to draw a longer line next to it. It works with grief, too.”
― Merlin Franco, Saint Richard Parker

“Loss is only temporary when you believe in God!”
― Latoya Alston

“A funeral is supposed to be a way to say goodbye. You look inside yourself and find a place to put your grief, not somewhere hidden, not the top shelf or the back of a cupboard, but maybe by a window, where it can catch the light.”
― Beth Lincoln, A Dictionary of Scoundrels

“You Still Live (Overcoming Grief Sonnet)

After your month long battle for breath,
Today I place you in nature's lap.
I know she'll care for you well,
like she once brought you to the world.

Fact of the matter is, you still live,
just in different form among the elements.
Nature's forces make us awake and restless,
Nature's forces coerce us into eternal rest.

There is no heaven, there is no hell,
these are concepts made by cowards.
Life is too sacred to be confined
by obsolete lies and superstitions.

Your light of affection shall continue
to shine bright in my memories.
You who was, nay, is like my second mother,
I won't say goodbye, for you still live.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Fact of the matter is, you still live, just in different form among the elements.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Bereavement Sermon (The Sonnet)

You don't find a way out of grief,
You embrace it and it becomes your strength.
You don't find a way out of suffering,
You surf it and it endows you with courage.

Avoiding sorrow you won't find happiness,
Road to happiness goes through sorrow.
No matter how dark life seems tonight,
without heartwrecking darkness, we'll
never discover resilience, and grow.

Amidst the grief none of this makes sense,
I've felt it first hand this past month.
So I say, it's okay to be shattered to pieces,
but you must gather the pieces and soldier on,
for the sake of your living loved ones.

It's okay to not be okay, it means
your mind is trying to heal itself.
Persevering pain for those who live,
the sun will rise once again.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“I needed my suffering to be acknowledged. After that, maybe I’d think about getting through it.”
― Sarah Manguso, Liars

“In other words, walking through the dark forest, you might eventually look up through the trees, see that the sky above is the same as the sky over the sunny pasture, that it is one canopy of light spread over your whole life’s landscape. Grief and joy are in the same life, but it’s only in the forest where you notice the shafts of sunlight spilling through.”
― Ben Shattuck, Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau

“If there’s one thing I want to say to the person who finds this book in their own version of year one, or year three, or year twelve, it’s this:
You don’t have to be finished to be okay.
You don’t have to understand everything to keep going.
You don’t have to let go of the past to embrace what’s here.
You just have to keep coming as you are.
Again.
And again.
And again.
That’s the whole thing.
That’s the whole path.
And for today — just today — that’s enough.”
― G. Scott Graham, Come As You Are: Five Years Later

“The grief remained, and the guilt hadn’t gone anywhere, but they didn’t crush him the way they once did. They sat beside him instead, hollowed out by the years.”
― R.P. Gage, Noetic Gravity

“Get cozy with your sorrow,
Cuddle with your grief.
Float with your fears,
And melt within your anger.
Stroll through your frustrations,
Your disappointments,
And your regrets.
Dive into your doubts,
Your powerlessness,
Your hopelessness.
Surrender.”
― NZ Kaminsky, Sense of Home

“SOUL FILTERS: your low points always give you insight into your connections. they unmask the ones who disguise themselves as helping hands and solidify the presence of the ones with pure intentions. let your low points sift through your connections. let your low points filter through your energy.”
― Billy Chapata, Velvet Dragonflies

“After your month long battle for breath,
Today I place you in nature's lap.
I know she'll care for you well,
like she once brought you to the world.

Fact of the matter is, you still live,
just in different form among the elements.
Nature's forces make us awake and restless,
Nature's forces coerce us into eternal rest.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Surviving something impossibly hard — supported by meaningful connection and our own inner strength — makes us more alive. More purpose-driven, more prioritized, more focused, more aware, more connected. More human. By bringing loss out of the shadows, we can change our lives for the better.”
― Sue Deagle

“You’ve first got to acknowledge grief and depression to yourself—for yourself.”
― Ron Acosta, Unstoppable Grace: A Memoir

“Grief is not an attractive part of life. No one wants to relive it or get a selfie of their grief experience. But suffering (going through) the grieving process made me the conqueror I am today.”
― Ron Acosta, Unstoppable Grace: A Memoir

“Grief must be embraced. It reveals our truths and our weaknesses and our strengths. It is healthy and
important and should not be avoided. For when we do allow ourselves to sit with that most complex of
human emotions, we become wiser and perhaps even happier.”
― Phoebe Ravencraft, Mystic Harmony

“A ligação estreita entre a morte e a tristeza é uma opinião ingênua. As lágrimas dos vivos, em resposta à sua chegada, têm um sentido nada oposto à alegria. Longe de serem dolorosas, as lágrimas são a expressão de uma consciência aguda da vida em comum captada na sua intimidade. É certo que é no momento em que a ausência segue repentinamente a presença que essa consciência é mais aguda, como na morte ou na simples separação, e nesse caso, o consolo (no sentido profundo que os místicos davam aos «consolos») está amargamente ligado ao facto de não poder durar, mas é precisamente o desaparecimento da duração, e com ela os comportamentos neutros que a acompanham, que destapa um fundo das coisas cujo ofuscamento cega (por outras palavras, é evidente que a necessidade da duração nos rouba a vida, e que só, em principio, a impossibilidade da duração nos liberta). Noutros casos as lágrimas respondem ao triunfo inesperado, à sorte que nos faz exultar, mas sempre de modo insensato, muito além da preocupação com o tempo futuro.”
― Georges Bataille, Theory of Religion

“It’s those subtle moments that make up the greatest grief and joy in life; the lingering in bed a little longer; the laughter with my friends when I should be training; the deep, aching grief I felt when our dog died; the painful vulnerability of loving deeply, of truly and honestly valuing a friendship over some arbitrary marker of success; the shame or guilt I feel when I know I messed up; the courage to admit it and try to repair it. All the things that remind me that I’m not a machine.”
― Beth Rodden, A Light through the Cracks: A Climber's Story

“Grief can bring you to your knees, but sometimes that is the best place to gain perspective.”
― Ashleigh G Stevens , Becoming Home: Journeying Through the Rooms of My Past to Reclaim My Story

“The stability I had previously taken for granted was replaced by the pain that arrived when you learn that and you love is going to die. It was a deep sense of foreboding, a bodily knowledge of things to come that you would do just about anything to avoid.”
― Marisa Renee Lee, Grief Is Love: Living with Loss

“My love grows wings,
A lost bird in an unfamiliar sky,
In my dreams your voice still rings,
But here the silence only seems to intensify”
― Natalie Miller, What Lies Beyond: And Other Poetry by Natalie Miller

“Sinto o calor de uma tarde de verão
E um vento calmo mas persistente
Talvez leve com ele a minha solidão
Que em mim toca insistentemente

Estou triste, muito triste até
Mas não quero largar este sentimento
As distrações prazerosas não ajudam
A perceber o meu tormento

Não foi só porque partiste que estou assim
Também perdi o meu propósito
O que é que quero para mim?
Qual é o meu caminho?
Ainda estou a descobri-lo
aos poucos, devagarinho.”
― Miguel Ferreira-Pinto

“I thought bravery had deserted me, but it hadn't. It had been swallowed by grief, and now I was slowly emerging from that pool.”
― C.L. Miller, The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder

“You're sad because you've lost someone you loved.”
― Karen Brough, I Can't Believe They're Gone: A kid's grief book that hugs, helps, and gives hope

“He said my name aloud, but he was asleep. I crawled into his hospital bed with him again as best I could with all the extra paraphernalia in the way, and then the flood started. I began to cry a little bit, and then more poured out. I could not stop it. How could I know a gushing river would burst through the dam of appropriateness and strength I try to project and mix with the I-Love-Yous coming from my mouht and the giant tears I did not know were waiting behind my eyes? How do anyone's eyes stay in their head with such pressure swimming and bleeding onto a pillow?

I Love you, Daddy. I am going to miss you, I thought to myself.

"Good-bye," I choked out the words.

"Good-bye, honey," said my sleeping, dreaming Daddy.”
― Piper Winifred, The Path of Grief: & the Imagined Future

“Does time heal? It does. But the truth is, with the death of your own blood, part of you dies with them and your eyes reflect a very distinct stamp, even when you’re smiling. You don’t “lose” your parents... you can lose a sock and buy a new one. You become unearthed in a way, unlived and unfelt.”
― Elena Levon