GRIEF QUOTES

quotations about grief

Grief quote

Excess of grief for the deceased is madness; for it is an injury to the living, and the dead know it not.

XENOPHON

attributed, Day's Collacon

Tags: Xenophon


It's funny, how one can look back on a sorrow one thought one might well die of at the time, and know that one had not yet reckoned the tenth part of true grief.

JACQUELINE CAREY

Kushiel's Dart

Tags: Jacqueline Carey


Grief and guilt. A powerful combination. Guilt like a liquid, a thin liquor, seeping everywhere, informing everything, saturating the whole--corrosive, like seawater, scented with the rich stench of ordure and corruption, and carrying with it hard, abrasive shards of grief.

SIMON MAWER

The Gospel of Judas

Tags: Simon Mawer


It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening.

SUE MONK KIDD

The Secret Life of Bees

Tags: Sue Monk Kidd


Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.

RUMI

attributed, The Philosophy Book

Tags: Rumi


Grief comes, a giantess, with strength to bind;
She grips our hand and glares into our eyes;
If we but kiss her mouth, she daily dies,
Fades into air, and leaves a flower behind.

WILLIAM WILSEY MARTIN

"Grief"

Tags: William Wilsey Martin


Receding from grief, it seems necessary to retrace the same steps that brought us there.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

Tender Is the Night

Tags: F. Scott Fitzgerald


For wherein is life sweet to him who suffers grief?

AESCHYLUS

fragment, Hoplon Krisis

Tags: Aeschylus


Whatever sorrow thy young heart have found,
Open it well, this ever-sacred wound
Dealt by dark angels--give thy soul relief.
Naught makes us nobler than a noble grief.

EMMA LAZARUS

"Muse"

Tags: Emma Lazarus


It is foolish to tear one's hair in grief, as if grief could be lessened by baldness.

CICERO

Tusculan Disputations

Tags: Cicero


We postpone the finality of heartbreak by clinging to hope. Though this might be acceptable during early or transitional stages of grief, ultimately it is no way to live. We need both hands free to embrace life and accept love, and that's impossible if one hand has a death grip on the past.

KRISTIN ARMSTRONG

O Magazine, Feb. 2007

Tags: Kristin Armstrong


Self carries grief as a pack mule carries the side bags,
being careful between the trees to leave extra room.

JANE HIRSHFIELD

"Burlap Sack"

Tags: Jane Hirshfield


Joy and grief are things of great hazard and danger in the life of man: The one breaks the heart; the other intoxicates the head.

BENJAMIN WHICHCOTE

Moral and Religious Aphorisms

Tags: Benjamin Whichcote


Grief never mended no broken bones.

CHARLES DICKENS

Sketches by Boz

Tags: Charles Dickens


I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.

J. R. R. TOLKIEN

The Return of the King

Tags: J. R. R. Tolkien


Unhappiness is selfish, grief is selfish. For whom are the tears?

JEANETTE WINTERSON

Written on the Body

Tags: Jeanette Winterson


Grief is like the wake behind a boat. It starts out as a huge wave that follows close behind you and is big enough to swamp and drown you if you suddenly stop moving forward. But if you do keep moving, the big wake will eventually dissipate. And after a long time, the waters of your life get calm again, and that is when the memories of those who have left begin to shine as bright and as enduring as the stars above.

JIMMY BUFFETT

A Salty Piece of Land


You do come out of it, that’s true. After a year, after five. But you don’t come out of it like a train coming out of a tunnel, bursting through the downs into sunshine and that swift, rattling descent to the Channel; you come out of it as a gull comes out of an oil-slick. You are tarred and feathered for life.

JULIAN BARNES

Flaubert's Parrot

Tags: Julian Barnes


To me, and to the state of my great grief,
Let kings assemble; for my grief's so great
That no supporter but the huge firm earth
Can hold it up: here I and sorrow sit;
Here is my throne, bid kings come bow to it.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

King John

Tags: William Shakespeare


Slowly, grief tires and sleeps, but never dies. In time it grows used to its prison, and a relationship of respect develops between prisoner and jailer.

JOSEPHINE HART

Damage

Tags: Josephine Hart