Bereavement is a darkness impenetrable to the imagination of the unbereaved.
—Iris Murdoch (1919–99) British Novelist, Playwright, Philosopher
Grief that is dazed and speechless is out of fashion: the modern woman mourns her husband loudly and tells you the whole story of his death, which distresses her so much that she forgets not the slightest detail about it.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Tell me, how can I live without my Husband any longer? This is my first awakening thought each morning, and as I watch the waves of the turbulent lake under our windows I sometimes feel I should like to go under them.
—Mary Todd Lincoln (1818–82) American First lady
Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.
—Jean de La Bruyere (1645–96) French Satiric Moralist, Author
Grief is light that is capable of counsel.
—Common Proverb
On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend’s life also, in our own, to the world.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless; That only men incredulous of despair, half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air beat upward to god’s throne in loud access of shrieking and reproach
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
When we suffer anguish we return to early childhood because that is the period in which we first learnt to suffer the experience of total loss. It was more than that. It was the period in which we suffered more total losses than in all the rest of our life put together.
—John Berger (1926–2017) English Art Critic, Novelist
Don’t order any black things. Rejoice in his memory; and be radiant: leave grief to the children. Wear violet and purple. Be patient with the poor people who will snivel: they don’t know; and they think they will live forever, which makes death a division instead of a bond.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep—he hath awakened from the dream of life—‘Tis we, who lost in stormy visions, keep with phantoms an unprofitable strife.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
One often calms one’s grief by recounting it.
—Pierre Corneille (1606–84) French Poet, Dramatist
Nothing becomes so offensive so quickly as grief. When fresh it finds someone to console it, but when it becomes chronic, it is ridiculed, and rightly.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
But there are other things than dissipation that thicken the features. Tears, for example.
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic
Since grief only aggravates your loss, grieve not for what is past.
—Walker Percy (1916–90) American Novelist
Grief can’t be shared. Everyone carries it alone. His own burden in his own way.
—Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906–2001) American Aviator, Author
Grief and sadness knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can; and common sufferings are far stronger than common joys.
—Alphonse de Lamartine (1790–1869) French Poet, Politician, Historian
Time takes away the grief of men.
—Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469–1536) Dutch Humanist, Scholar
Our trials, our sorrows, and our grieves develop us…
—Orison Swett Marden (1850–1924) American New Thought Writer, Physician, Entrepreneur
There is immunity in reading, immunity in formal society, in office routine, in the company of old friends and in the giving of officious help to strangers, but there is no sanctuary in one bed from the memory of another. The past with its anguish will break through every defense-line of custom and habit; we must sleep and therefore we must dream.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
If, as I can’t help suspecting, the dead also feel the pains of separation (and this may be one of their purgatorial sufferings), then for both lovers, and for all pairs of lovers without exception, bereavement is a universal and integral part of our experience of love.
—C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) Irish-British Academic, Author, Literary Scholar
Grief fills the room up of my absent child, lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
What right have I to grieve, who have not ceased to wonder?
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Sorrow is the great idealizer.
—James Russell Lowell (1819–91) American Poet, Critic
Pain hardens, and great pain hardens greatly, whatever the comforters say, and suffering does not ennoble, though it may occasionally lend a certain rigid dignity of manner to the suffering frame.
—A. S. Byatt (1936–2023) English Novelist, Poet
The display of grief makes more demands than grief itself. How few men are sad in their own company.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
No matter how deep and dark your pit, how dank your shroud, their heads are heroically unbloody and unbowed.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
Time heals old pain, while it creates new ones.
—Hebrew Proverb
Grief is the agony of an instant; the indulgence of grief the blunder of a life.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
All things grow with time—except grief.
—Yiddish Proverb
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