Quotes to Help Understand and Heal Grief
6 Minute Read
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The Power of Quotes
I believe that words and phrases are important and potentially powerful in helping comfort, inspire, and normalize the feelings around the topic of grief.
A quote can provide an “Aha!” moment in which the reader sees that they are not the only ones holding the same sentiments. Quotes help explain grief through the perspectives of others who have endured it, and of leaders and experts on the topic. Sometimes, when they come from famous people whom we may admire, they can even resonate more.
The clients in my grief counseling practice my grief counseling clients often find and share quotes that jump off the page and help them understand their grief experience.
Here, I’m sharing some of my favorite “grief quotes” with you, with the hope that they may provide the help you may need at this moment.
And if some of them make your eyes tear up, remember that crying is okay and healthy.
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Some of my favorite well-known quotes:
“Grief is like the ocean; It comes in waves; ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim. “ --- Vicki Harrison
“Sometimes all you can do is lie in bed and hope to fall asleep before you fall apart.” --- William C. Hannan
“Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable, can be more manageable. When we can talk about our feelings, they become less overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. The people we trust with that important talk can help us know that we are not alone.” --- Fred Rogers
“It’s possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief … lessens. It may not go away completely, but after a while, it’s not so overwhelming.” ---Nicholas Spark
“Grief is not a disorder, a disease, or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, spiritual and physical necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.” --- Earl Grollman
“There is a sacredness in tears. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love.” --- Washington Irving
“Moving on, as a concept, is for stupid people. Because any sensible person knows grief is a long-term project. I refuse to rush. Let no man slow, speed, or fix.” --- Max Porter
“The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing … not healing, not curing… that is a friend who cares”. --- Henri Nouwen
“It’s an honor to be in grief. It’s an honor to feel that much, to have loved that much.” --- Elizabeth Gilbert
“I sat with my anger long enough until she told me her real name was.”--- C.S. Lewis
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it." --- Joan Didion
“When someone we love dies, we get so busy mourning what died that we ignore what didn’t.” --- Ram Dass
"We run from grief because loss scares us, yet our hearts reach toward grief because the broken parts want to mend." --- Brené Brown
“Tearless grief bleeds inwardly.” --- Christian Nevell Bovee
“Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.”— Jamie Anderson
“There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don’t seem to help.” — Fred Rogers
”No matter how long it's been, there are times when it suddenly becomes harder to breathe." — Anonymous
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“Tears are the silent language of grief." — Voltaire
“I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.” — C.S. Lewis
“Do not apologize for crying. Without this emotion, we are only robots.” — Elizabeth Gilbert
“We think that the point is to pass the test or overcome the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy.” --- Pema Chodron
“Grief is never something you get over. You don’t wake up one morning and say, ‘I’ve conquered that: now I’m moving on.‘ It’s something that walks beside you every day. And if you can learn how to manage it and honor the person that you miss, you can take something that is incredibly sad and have some form of positivity.” --- Terri Erwin
Helpful Free Grieving Resource
If you are having difficulty with grief, download my free resource guide below. I work to help people start the healing process after experiencing the death of a loved one.
