Unfortunately, at some point in our lives we will all have to live the experience of losing a loved one. After this painful loss, life can hit us hard and make us reflect on many things.
In this article you will find the most inspiring grief phrases by such important authors as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mark Twain, Rafael Alberti, Marcel Proust and Oscar Wilde.
Related article: “The 5 stages of grief (when a family member dies)”
1. Grief does not change you, it reveals you (John Green)
Sometimes grief can show something about you that was always there.
2. The darker the night, the brighter the stars. The deeper the grief, the closer God is (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
This mourning phrase brings us closer to the idea of the spiritual support we find in mourning.
3. Only people capable of loving intensely can suffer great pain, but this same need to love serves to counteract their grief and heals them (Leo Tolstoy)
When the cause is also the remedy.
4. To cry is to make grief less profound (William Shakespeare)
Since crying is the manifestation of our pain and the way to beat it.
5. They say that time heals all wounds, but that presupposes that the root of grief is finite (Cassandra Clare)
This mourning phrase tells us about the process it takes for us to overcome grief.
6. One cannot go through life without pain. What we can do is choose the pain that life presents to us (Bernie S. Siegel)
This phrase tells us about taking control of our emotions in the situations that occur.
7. No one ever told me that grief feels like fear (CS Lewis)
For Lewis, fear is the representation of grief, since it is perhaps related to the idea of death or abandonment.
8. There is no grief like one who does not speak (Henry Wordsworth)
About the weight we carry and we do not allow ourselves to express it.
So since every process is transitory, we cannot coexist in it.
18. Those who have suffered understand suffering and therefore extend their hand (Patti Smith)
A show of empathy in this type of situation.
19. He who hides his pain finds no remedy for it (Turkish proverb)
When we face our sorrows we will find the solution for them.
20. The word “Happiness” would lose meaning without sadness (Carl Gustav Jung)
Because without sadness we couldn’t find the courage in them.
21. Grief ends up giving you the two best things: softness and enlightenment (Anne Lamott)
The process we go through during grief gives us wisdom.
22. Grief challenges us to love once again (Terry Tempest Williams)
That is the risk that is assumed.
23. There is no mourning that does not speak (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
In one way or another, regret manifests itself.
24. Things that hurt instruct (Benjamin Franklin)
This phrase of mourning lets us see the instructive part of pain.
25. A man who does not cry would not be human (Norman Schwarzkopf)
In this phrase he exposes crying as an expression of human emotions.
26. Pain without tears bleeds internally (Christian Nevell)
Unexpressed pain has consequences within us.
27. Do not protect yourself from pain with a fence, but rather with your friends (Czech proverb)
This means releasing the pain, sharing your emotions, finding validation and support from them, all of this gives us the peace of mind we need.
28. Those who drink to drown their sorrows should be told that sorrows know how to swim (Ann Landers)
So we must look for other more useful and effective ways to keep them away.
29. The greatest pains are those that we cause ourselves (Sophocles)
This phrase invites us to reflect on the origin of our sorrows.
30. Pain shared is pain diminished (Rabbi Grollman)
About seeking support from others.
31. We acquire the strength that we have overcome (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
This mourning phrase refers to the strength we have gained in the process
32. Loss is nothing more than change and change is the delight of nature (Marcus Aurelius)
We must assimilate losses as a natural part of our existence.
33. Pain that has no outlet in tears can make other organs cry (Henry Maudsley)
This phrase from Maudsley tells us that when pain does not have an escape route, it settles in some organ and it expresses the pain through some symptom.
34. We must embrace the pain and burn it like gasoline for our journey (Kenji Miyazawa)
A way to sublimate our grief at some loss
35. Grief is a medicine in itself (William Cowper)
Since it mobilizes many elements to overcome a significant loss.
36. Everything grows with time, except grief (Proverb)
Grief does not have to expand so much in people’s lives.
37. Everyone can control a duel except the one who has it (William Shakespeare)
In this phrase of mourning, the English playwright makes us understand that we have to be patient with people who are experiencing a grieving process since they are vulnerable to self-control of their emotions.
38. Tears are the silent language of pain.-Voltaire.
And through them we wash our interior.
39. Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.-Kahlil Gibran.
Pain teaches us through situations of loss until it gives us the necessary wisdom to understand some things.
40. The scars you don’t see are the most difficult to heal (Astrid Alauda)
This phrase persuades us to honestly introspect to identify our deepest wounds.
41. The world is round and the place that may seem like the end could seem like the beginning.-Baker Priest.
Life is cycles that constantly open and close.
42. Grief does not make you imperfect. It makes you human (Sarah Dessen)
About situations that strengthen emotions
43. Change the way you think and you will change the way you feel.-Charmaine Smith Ladd.
The power of the mind empowering emotions.
44. Heaven knows that we should never be ashamed of our tears, because they are rain on the blinding sand of the earth, covering our hard hearts.-Charles Dickens.
A beautiful phrase about accepting our vulnerabilities.
45. Those who do not cry, do not see (Victor Hugo)
Because this human act allows us to have a deeper contemplation towards life.
46. Melancholy is the happiness of being sad (Victor Hugo)
This phrase from Victor Hugo exposes melancholy as part of the grieving process.
With this phrase Emerson places emotions in time in order to better understand the cause of each of them.
48. True pain is as rare as true love (Stephen King)
And both mark and here and now.
49. Pain is a fruit. God does not make them grow on branches too weak to support them.-Victor Hugo
This phrase by Victor Hugo refers to those people endowed with strength to resist many adversities.
50. Every life has a measure of pain. And sometimes this is what wakes us up.-Steven Tyler.
This mourning phrase gives us an idea about the effect of pain on awareness
51. A man who is master of himself can end pain as easily as he can invent pleasure.-Oscar Wilde.
This phrase invites us to use our creativity and intelligence to solve our problems and achieve emotional tranquility.
52. Pain is like a precious treasure, show it only to your friends (African Proverb)
Talk about taking care of privacy and being careful about how you handle your problems.
53. As having a good day brings a happy dream, living a good life brings a happy death (Leonardo Da Vinci)
An interesting reflection by Da Vinci in this phrase of mourning.
54. Don’t be ashamed to cry; you have the right to cry. Tears are just water, flowers, trees and fruits cannot grow without water. But there must also be sunlight. A wounded heart will heal in time and when it does, the memory and love of our lost will be sealed within us to comfort us (Brian Jacques)
A deep reflection on the freedom to express our emotions and how this frees us.
55. Your absence has passed through me like a thread in a needle. Everything I do is sewn with its color (WS Merwin)
One of the most inspiring phrases about grief.
56. You will not leave, my love, and if you left, even if you left, you would never leave. (Rafael Alberti)
A timeless declaration of love, from the great Rafael Alberti.
57. Let there be comfort knowing that someone so special will never be forgotten. (Julie Hebert)
A nice dedication for someone special, who can make us feel much better.
58. The life of the dead remains in the memory of the living. (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
In ancient Rome, great thinkers also reflected on mourning.
59. When someone you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.
A perfect summary of what grief is for many of us, which can comfort us greatly.
60. He will return, I know him; Like a piece of a star, she will return. (Omar González)
Some poems can make us experience what it truly means to mourn and lose a loved one.
61. Living in the hearts we leave behind is not dying. (Thomas Campbell)
A plea in favor of eternal life, of those we harbor in our hearts.
62. There is no grief like the grief that does not speak. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
The feelings that are not expressed are the ones that hurt the most.
63. You can hold the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present. (Jan Gildwell)
It is good to cry for someone who is gone but we must also continue to look forward.
64. Why does it take a minute to say hello and it takes us a lifetime to say hello?
“bye bye”?
Some grief can last forever.
65. Absence is such a big house that you will pass through the walls and hang the pictures in the air. (Pablo Neruda)
Pablo Neruda’s poems perfectly describe what it is like to mourn the death of a loved one.
66. How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so difficult. (Winnie The Pooh)
Even in children’s literature we can find truly special definitions of grief.
67. Let no one cry for me, nor celebrate my funeral with mourning; because I still live, while I pass from one side to the other through the mouths of men. (Fifth Ennius)
People don’t die as long as they are remembered.
68. Never. We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us; They do not disappear from our lives. We’re just in different rooms.
An idea that we must keep in mind whenever we have lost someone.
69. Pain is the price we pay for love. (Queen isabel II)
A truly deep and special reflection on grief.
70. What soap is to the body, tears are to the soul. (Jewish Proverb)
Tears help us express everything we feel and feel better about ourselves.
71. If I had to choose between grief and nothingness, I would choose grief. (William Faulkner)
A phrase that reminds us that sometimes it is better to feel something than nothing.
72. Pain changes form, but it never ends. (Keanu Reeves)
A famous quote from a person who has suffered a lot in his life.
73. If tears could build a ladder and memories a path, I would walk to heaven and bring you home again.
A dedication that will undoubtedly move all those who have lost someone.
74. Although it is difficult today to see beyond the pain, may looking back in memory help comfort you tomorrow.
There is no other recipe to find the clarity and happiness you long for.
75. If you’re my age, you’ve probably had your heart broken many times. So it’s not that difficult to take a little pain out of a small corner of your heart and cry about it. (Emma Thompson)
Experienced voices like Emma Thompson’s can teach us how to cope with grief.
76. The song ended but the melody continues. (Irving Berlin)
A beautiful allegory about how the spirit of those who leave lives on in us.
77. I don’t want it to get dark when my heart sings the Sunday Blues. (Lax’n Bust)
One of the most remembered songs of this Spanish rock group.
78. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. (Buddha)
One of the fundamental pillars of the Buddhist religion teaches us to manage suffering in any area of life.
79. Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened. (Dr. Seuss)
A classic quote from this great children’s writer that can help us overcome grief.
80. I don’t know why they call it “heartbroken.” More like it feels like every part of my body is broken too. (Chloe Woodward)
Sometimes we feel grief as if we are really being hurt in the heart or other parts of the body.
