Some days grief just hurts more especially during an anniversary, birthday or the holidays, and it can sneak up without warning. You can be washing dishes, scrolling through your social media channels, or stepping outside to run some errands, and suddenly you feel the pain of missing the person you’ve lost. Anyone who has grieved knows that healing is not linear. Grief can echo, linger, or resurface and make way for depression or anxiety to set in.

When the sadness hits, many people turn to grief quotes as one way to help them cope. Sometimes, someone else’s words can provide strength and a sense of comfort. While quotes aren’t meant to pretend everything is fine, they can be reminders that healing doesn’t have to look perfect, that “getting over it” isn’t a requirement, and that learning to live with loss is often more realistic than forcing yourself to move on.

If you experience a day that feels especially heavy, know that we are here for you. Text CONNECT to 741741 to reach a live volunteer Crisis Counselor who will listen. This mental health support service is free, confidential, and available anytime.

Quotes for When Grief Feels Fresh

Grief can feel like a shock to the system as you might feel numbness or disbelief. Whether the grief is fresh, or it has re-surfaced as if you’re feeling it for the first time, these quotes can help ground you and feel less alone.

• “You will survive, and you will find purpose in the chaos. Moving on doesn’t mean letting go.” — Mary VanHaute (suicide prevention trainer and speaker)
• “We all want to do something to mitigate the pain of loss or to turn grief into something positive, to find a silver lining in the clouds. But I believe there is real value in just standing there, being still, being sad.” — John Green (New York Times bestselling author)
• “We bereaved are not alone. We belong to the largest company in all the world – the company of those who have known suffering.” — Helen Keller (American author, activist and disability rights advocate)

Quotes for When Grief Feels Overwhelming

There are days when you remember a tiny detail that can overwhelm you with grief: the way they laughed, a line from their favorite movie, or the song they loved playing over and over again. While it can be disorienting and feel like the sadness is too heavy to carry, below are some grief quotes to help remind you that you are strong enough to get through it and perhaps, one day, even recall the memories with less sadness. 

• “Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.” —  Leo Tolstoy (influential Russian author)
• “Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.” — Vicki Harrison (Program Director at the Stanford Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences)
• “Never. We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us; they don’t disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms.”  — Paulo Coelho (bestselling Brazilian novelist and lyricist)

Quotes for When Healing Through Grief Feels Impossible

Healing through grief is rarely a straight line. Oftentimes, it ebbs and flows, which can make the process of coping seem impossible. While you may feel this way, below are some reminders that you can experience healing, and although the pain of the loss may never completely shrink, you have the ability to learn to grow around it.

• “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.”  —  Elizabeth Kubler-Ross (Swiss-American psychiatrist and author; developer of the five stages of grief)
• “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 Sparks (American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer)
• “Deep grief sometimes is almost like a specific location, a coordinate on a map of time. When you are standing in that forest of sorrow, you cannot imagine that you could ever find your way to a better place. But if someone can assure you that they themselves have stood in that same place, and now have moved on, sometimes this will bring hope.” — Elizabeth Gilbert (American journalist and author)

If reading these still leaves you needing more connection and support, remember you can text CONNECT to 741741 to reach a live volunteer Crisis Counselor any time, free and confidential.

Quotes for When You Feel Ready to Grow Around Grief

Eventually, you will reach a place where grief settles into your life, not gone, but woven into your strength and growth. You can get to a point in your healing where you are able to share stories and recall memories with fondness and less pain. 

• “I still miss those I loved who are no longer with me but I find I am grateful for having loved them. The gratitude has finally conquered the loss.” — Rita Mae Brown (American poet, New York Times bestselling novelist, and activist)
• “A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.” — Maya Angelou (American author, poet, and civil rights activist)
• “You will lose someone you can’t live without, and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn’t seal back up. And you come through. It’s like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp.” — Anne Lamott (American novelist, political activist, public speaker, and writing teacher)
• “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss (American children’s author, animator, and illustrator)

It’s important to remember that grief comes in waves, and may never completely disappear. But you have the ability to heal and grow around it, and you don’t have to do it alone. Come back to these quotes whenever you need some words of support and comfort. And if the weight feels too heavy, remember you can always text CONNECT to 741741.