Introduction

When we cope with loss, grief quotes for healing can become our lifeline. They articulate the ineffable and remind us that we are not broken, we are only human.

The nature of grief

This part is some famous people’s views about grief. Understanding their views can help us understand grief properly. At least,when it comes to grief, we’re not alone.

Tears are the silent language of grief. – Voltaire

Grief is in two parts. The first is loss. The second is the remaking of life. – Anne Roiphe

That’s the nature of grief: It’s a creature with many arms but few legs, and it staggers about, searching for support. – Yann Martel

Grief is not in the nature of things, but in opinion. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

What is grief, if not love persevering? – Unknown

The pain passes, but the beauty remains. – Unknown

The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love; it is, perhaps, the price we pay for love. – Colin Murray Parkes

Grief is the price we pay for love. – Queen Elizabeth II

The void left by death is sometimes greater than the place filled in life. – Madame Swetchine

Little by little, we let go of loss but never of love. – Unknown

Nurture yourself like you would anybody else going through something this hard. – Melvina Young

Grief softened into tears and I let her flow. – Unknown

Grief mimics nature’s chill, and emptiness can shade you like a canopy. – Unknown

Grief can destroy you – or focus you. You can decide a relationship was all for nothing if it had to end in death, and you alone. OR you can realize that every moment of it had more meaning than you dared to recognize at the time. – Anonymous

Don’t be a museum to grief. – Elizabeth Gilbert

Time and healing

Sadness flies away on the wings of time. – Jean de La Fontaine

With time the pain eases, the body recovers and the brain figures out new ways to go on. – Federico Chini

Grief cries and life shines on — and hope paints a rainbow. – Terri Guillemets

The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. – Elisabeth Kübler‑Ross & David Kessler

Time discovers truth. Time heals what reason cannot. – Seneca

Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons. – Blaise Pascal

Time heals everything. Sometimes you have to go through that pain and heartbreak so that you can get to the other side and come out on top. – Christina Aguilera

They say time heals all wounds. It doesn’t. It just patches a broken heart. It doesn’t get any easier over time. You just learn to live with the pain. – Mary Ting

Time heals and nothing is finite. It’s a process that’s never too late to begin. – Rebecca Black

Time heals all things, hopefully. – Prince Harry

Grief is just love with nowhere to go. – Andrew Garfield

How lucky am I to have something so special, that makes saying goodbye so hard. – A.A. Milne

Father says it will come in time. ‘Time heals,’ he says. I don’t tell him that I don’t know what time is. – Mary E. Pearson

Who said that time heals all wounds? It would be better to say that time heals everything — except wounds. With time, the hurt of separation lessens. – Chris Marker

Wisdom in literature, fiction/poetry excerpts

It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves. – William Shakespeare

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul—and sings the tunes without the words—and never stops at all. – Emily Dickinson

Forever is composed of nows. – Emily Dickinson

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. – C.S. Lewis

Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny. – C.S. Lewis

Wisdom is oftentimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar. – William Wordsworth

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. – William Wordsworth

They also serve who only stand and wait. – John Milton

Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind. – Virginia Woolf

Arrange whatever pieces come your way. – Virginia Woolf

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. – Jane Austen

Courage is grace under pressure. – Ernest Hemingway

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places. – Ernest Hemingway

All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. – Leo Tolstoy

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Grief quotes of the east

The wound is the place where the Light enters you. — Rumi

Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation. — Rumi

When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. — Kahlil Gibran

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. — Kahlil Gibran

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. — Kahlil Gibran

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. — Rumi

Pain is certain, suffering is optional. — Gautama Buddha

You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. — Gautama Buddha

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. — Gautama Buddha

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. — Lao Tzu

New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. — Lao Tzu

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. — Confucius

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. — Confucius

Death, my death, come and whisper to me! Day after day I have kept watch for thee; for thee have I borne the joys and pangs of life. — Rabindranath Tagore

There is no death, only a change of worlds. — Thich Nhat Hanh

It is only because of our misunderstanding that we think the person we love no longer exists after they ‘pass away.’ — Thich Nhat Hanh

Where there is love there is life. — Mahatma Gandhi

Modern grief quotes

When death takes my hand I will hold you with the other and promise to find you in every lifetime. – Rupi Kaur

You are everywhere except right here and it hurts. – Rupi Kaur

fully grieve your losses and also, let yourself feel the full weight of your joys. – Morgan Harper Nichols

Take a deep breath and be drawn into the depths of flowers slowly blooming right here. Some of these flowers will seem to spring up randomly, while others will rise up from joy, from grief. And some flowers will simply remind you to take this moment to breathe. – Morgan Harper Nichols

All grief needs to be witnessed. Each person’s grief is as unique as their fingerprint. But what everyone has in common is that no matter how they grieve, they share a need for their grief to be witnessed. – David Kessler

Your loss is not a test, a lesson, something to handle, a gift, or a blessing. Loss is simply what happens to you in life. Meaning is what you make happen. – David Kessler

grieve. so that you can be free to feel something else. – Nayyirah Waheed

the hard season will split you through. do not worry. you will bleed water. do not worry. this is grief… to drink all damage into love. – Nayyirah Waheed

What was it like to lose him? Asked Sorrow. There was a long pause before I responded: It was like hearing every goodbye ever said to me—said all at once. – Lang Leav

Like time suspended, a wound unmended—you and I. We had no ending, no said goodbye; For all my life, I’ll wonder why. – Lang Leav

Vulnerability is not about winning. It’s not about loosing. It’s having the courage to show up when you can’t control the outcome. – Brené Brown

Vulnerability is the most accurate way to measure courage. And we literally do that as researchers. We measure how brave you are by how vulnerable you are willing to be. – Brené Brown

Grief is depression in proportion to circumstance; depression is grief out of proportion to circumstance. – Andrew Solomon

Grief is a humble angel who leaves you with strong, clear thoughts and a sense of your own depth. Depression is a demon who leaves you appalled. – Andrew Solomon

when I die, do not waste a minute mourn­ing me. I may go, but I will leave behind all my thousand & one lives — a bookmad girl never dies. – Amanda Lovelace

i am a lioness who is no longer afraid to let the world hear her roar. – Amanda Lovelace

I have been told that when a loved one dies the worst part is not the shock, or the blood, or how grief colors all the places your hands touch. The worst part is when the world heals you too well. – Clementine von Radics

Grief is not unlike whiskey in that it makes me aware I am not behaving like everyone else, and equally powerless to stop it. – Clementine von Radics

We don’t ‘move on’ from grief. We move forward with it. – Nora McInerny

It’s about facing whatever darkness looms over you: your suffering, your sorrow, your sickness, and still putting one foot in front of the other. – Nora McInerny

Practical Advice

If you’re feeling sad right now, you can relieve it in the following ways:

• breathe deeply for 30 seconds

• read your favorite quotes above in different tones. Such as firm tone, gentle tone and calm tone.

• Write down what you feel in your diary. Write as much as you want. The important thing is to write it down, not to keep it in mind.

• Write down a quote that you think is useful on a post-it note and post it somewhere visible on a daily basis, such as the fridge.

• Use your left hand to copy your favorite quotes every day in your diary. The reason for using the left hand is to activate the right brain’s emotion management function.

• Throughout the day, casually rate your mood in a journal. And then you’ll find that, after a while, the things that you thought were hard will be less hard.

FAQ

Conclusion

Grief is a part of the mood, just as the weather can be cloudy. The weather sometimes good and sometimes bad, just like people’s mood, happy and grief alternate. So embrace the grief as you would embrace the happiness. It is in this way that a whole person is formed. Everything will be fine, like a sunny day after a storm.

References: https://positivepsychology.com/mental-health-quotes/