When one experiences a death — whether that of a friend, lover, parent, child or beloved pet — there are no words to describe or mitigate the grief. Well-meaning people can try to fix or change their grieving loved ones, when the loss needs, instead, to be acknowledged and allowed. However, words of solace from great thinkers, artists and writers can offer a sense of understanding, comfort and hope. Scroll down to read some of our favorite quotes about moving on from loss.
1. “You’ll drift apart, it’s true, but you’ll be out in the open, part of everything alive again.” – Philip Pullman
2. “So I stopped trying to fit into the life I had left behind. And I found my pain lessened.” – Christina Rasmussen
3. “It’s okay to look at the past and the future. Just don’t stare.” – Lisa Lieberman-Wang
4. “We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” – Kenji Miyazawa
5. “We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell
6. “Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn’t people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?” – Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
7. “In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.” – Robert Frost
8. “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.” – Charles Dickens
9. “Hope smiles on the threshold of the year to come, whispering that it will be happier.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
10. “Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.” – Theodor Seuss Geisel