Popular Quotes Unique to Grief

In the midst of grief, it can be hard to find your words, let alone your voice through it all. Here are some well-known quotes that may help express the very things in your heart. 

1. "Grief is the price we pay for love." - Queen Elizabeth II

2. “The times you lived through, the people you shared those times with—nothing brings it all to life like an old mix tape. It does a better job of storing up memories than actual brain tissue can do. Every mix tape tells a story. Put them together, and they can add up to the story of a life.” – Rob Sheffield, Love Is A Mixtape

3. “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” – Thomas Campbell

4. “At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer, we remember them.” – Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Reimer

5. “Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?” Terry Pratchett

6. “All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” – Havelock Ellis

7. "Grief is the last act of love we have to give to those we loved. Where there is deep grief, there was great love." - Unknown

8. "There is no grief like the grief that does not speak." - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

9. "Grief is a natural response to loss. It is the emotional suffering you feel when something or someone you love is taken away." - Unknown

10. "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. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to." - Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

11. "Grief is not a disorder, a disease, or a sign of weakness. It is an emotional, physical, and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love." - Unknown

12. "Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith … It is the price of love." - Unknown

13. "Grief is a journey that teaches us to live without the one we loved, but to always carry them in our hearts." - Unknown

14. "Grief is not a thing you get over. It is something you learn to live with." - Unknown

15. "The pain of grief is just as much a part of life as the joy of love: it is perhaps the price we pay for love, the cost of commitment." – Unknown

16. “It’s so curious: one can resist tears and ‘behave’ very well in the hardest hours of grief. But then someone makes you a friendly sign behind a window, or one notices that a flower was in bud only yesterday has suddenly blossomed, or a letter slips from a drawer…and everything collapses.” – Collette 

17. “Should you shield the valleys from the windstorms, you would never see the beauty of their canyons.” – Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

18. “’Everyone must leave something behind when he dies,’ my grandfather said. ‘A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something in your hand touches some way so our soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there.’” – Ray Bradbury, "Fahrenheit 451"

19. “When we have joy we crave to share, we remember them” – Sylvan Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer

20. “Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it ‘til it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.” – Henry David Thoreau

21. “I’ll be seeing you, and all the familiar places, that this heart of mine embraces all day through.” – Billy Holiday, "I’ll Be Seeing You"

22. “One more day. One more time. One more sunset. Maybe then I’d be satisfied. But then again, I know what it would do—leave me wishing still, for one more day with you.” – Diamond Rio

23. “Losing my mother at such an early age is the scar of my soul. But I feel like it ultimately made me into the person I am today. I understand the journey of life. I had to go through what I did to be here.” – Mariska Hargitay 

24. “My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” – Clarence Budington Kelland

25. “No one ever told me that grief felt like fear.” – C.S. Lewis

26. “Ain’t no shame in holding on to grief. As long as you make room for other things too.” – Reginald 'Bubbles' Cousins, "The Wire"

Please note that these quotes are not exhaustive. You can find more quotes to help express your grief online. Since everyone grieves differently, these quotes may or may not resonate with everyone.