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Loss is an inevitable part of life. It could be the loss of a pet, the end of a relationship or loss of a loved one, the loss of a friend, the loss of a child, the loss of a parent or even our health.
No matter the type of loss, one thing that’s certain is that it’s never easy. The emotional response and grieving process can be intense and have a profound effect on our mental and emotional health. It is a tough thing to go through no matter who you are.
Whether you just experienced a recent loss or you’re looking for the right words of comfort to say to someone, our list of 100 quotes on loss and grief will provide you with some uplifting messages and support during this difficult time.
Quotes About Losing a Loved One
There’s no way to sugarcoat it, losing a loved one is painful. Through the heartache and grief it’s important to remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel. These meaningful quotes not only embody what it means to lose someone close to your heart but will also remind you that you’re not alone in your journey.
- “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” – Thomas Campell
- “When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.” – Unknown
- “Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality.” – Emily Dickinson
- “Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy.” – Unknown
- “If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them.” – The Crow, written by James O’Barr, David J. Schow, and John Shirley
- “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” – Isaac Asimov
- “Those we love never truly leave us. There are things that death cannot touch.” – Jack Thorne
- “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose; all that we deeply love becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller
- “Remember that people are only guests in your story – the same way you are only a guest in theirs – so make the chapters worth reading.” – Lauren Klarfeld
- “We understand death only after it has placed its hands on someone we love.” – Anne L. de Stael
- “Death – the last sleep? No, it is the final awakening.” – Sir Walter Scott
- “The sorrow we feel when we lose a loved one is the price we pay to have had them in our lives.” – Rob Liano
Quotes About the Loss of a Child
There are no words for the loss of a child that will soothe or mend a broken heart. The healing process may feel neverending, but remember that you are not alone. Knowing what to say or how to feel can be difficult, these loss of a child quotes attempt to give context to the complex emotions that come with this kind of pain.
13. “There’s no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
14. “There is no footprint too small to leave an imprint on this world.” – Unknown
15. “Just as it is impossible to explain childbirth to a woman who has never given birth, it is impossible to explain child loss to a person who has never lost a child.” – Lynda Cheldlin Fell
16. “This was how to help a family who has just lost their child. Wash the clothes, make soup. Don’t ask them what they need, bring them what they need. Keep them warm. Listen to them rant, and cry, and tell their story over and over.” – Ann Hood
17. “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
18. “We never truly get over a loss, but we can move forward and evolve from it.” – Elizabeth Berrien
19. “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” – C.S. Lewis
20. “In the English language there are orphans and widows, but there is no word for the parents who lose a child.” – Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper
21. “When our children die, we drop them into the unknown, shuddering with fear. We know that they go out from us, and we stand, and pity, and wonder.” – Henry Ward Beecher
22. “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” – Unknown
23. “Just because we lost a life, doesn’t mean we have to lose ourselves.” – Tamara Gabriel
24. “The weird, weird thing about devastating loss is that life actually goes on. When you’re faced with a tragedy, a loss so huge that you have no idea how you can live through it, somehow, the world keeps turning, the seconds keep ticking.” – James Patterson
Quotes About the Loss of a Mother
Losing a mother or mother figure means the world is going to feel very different. However, a mother’s love is strong and you can take solace in knowing that her light will carry on. Whether you’re dealing with your own loss or helping someone else cope, these quotes and sympathy poems about the loss of a mother attempt to put words to this feeling.
25. “Her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.” – C.S. Lewis
26. “No matter what age… I’ll always need you mom.” – Unknown
27. “Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.” – Emily Dickinson
28. “When death takes your mother, it steals that word forever.” – Mitch Albom
29 “I never truly learned what the words ‘I miss you’ were until I reached for my mom’s hand and it wasn’t there.” – Unknown
30. “My mother had a slender, small body, but a large heart—a heart so large that everybody’s joys found welcome in it, and hospitable accommodation.” – Mark Twain
31. “Wherever a beautiful soul has been there is a trail of beautiful memories.” – Unknown
32. “A mom’s hug lasts long after she lets go.” – Unknown
33. “Grief, I’ve learned, is really just love. It’s all the love you want to give, but cannot. All that unspent love gathers up in the corners of your eyes, the lump in your throat, and in that hollow part of your chest. Grief is just love with no place to go.” – Jamie Anderson
34. “I wish I had the power to take back every pain, worry and hurt that I ever gave you. I wish that I could just undo, all the moments that made you blue.” – Unknown
Loss of a Father Quotes
For many of us, fathers are the heroes who guided us through life and were there for us when no one else was. Saying goodbye may seem impossible to recover from. These quotes about the loss of a father can help bring comfort to you and your loved ones.
35. “Hold dear to your parents for it is a scary and confusing world without them.” – Emily Dickinson
36. “Love is a bond that death cannot part. Gone from my arms, but still held in my heart.” – John Mark Green
37. “Old as she was, she still missed her Daddy sometimes.” – Unknown
38. “Your absence walks through the door every single day.” – Helen Lyon
39. “Dads are the most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers story-tellers, and singers of song.” – Pam Brown
40. “A father’s love is forever imprinted on his child’s heart.” – Jennifer Williamson
41. “But she wasn’t around, and that’s the thing when your parents die, you feel like instead of going in to every fight with backup, you are going into every fight alone.” – Mitch Albom, For One More Day
42. “Dad, wherever you are, you are done but you will never be forgotten.” – Conrad Hall
43. “The loss of my father was the most traumatic event in my life – I can’t forget the pain.” – Frank Lowry
44. “Say not in grief ‘he is no more’ but in thankfulness that he was.” – Hebrew Proverb
45. “My father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it.” – Clarence Budington Kellan
Quotes About Losing a Brother
Brothers hold an irreplaceable place in their sibling’s heart and the pain associated with losing a brother can be unbearable. Though putting this type of loss to words is difficult, it may help bring you peace and comfort. Whether he was your protector, best friend, partner in crime or all of the above — take solace in these quotes about the loss of a brother.
46. “The years may pass but you will stay… as near and dear as yesterday” – Unknown
47. “There’s no buddy like a brother. I miss you.” – Unknown
48. “Your life was a blessing, your memory a treasure. You are loved beyond words and missed beyond measure.” – Renee Wood
49. “I still don’t know how to look at my life without an inescapable absence of you.” – Chloe Frayne
50. Like my strong body would miss my heart beating loud, I miss you Brother.” – Michele Melleen
51. “Sometimes memories sneak out of my eyes and roll down my cheeks.” – Unknown
52. “Because brothers don’t let each other wander in the dark alone.” – Jolene Perry
53. “Everything I am, you helped me be.” – Unknown
54. “Because I have a brother, I’ll always have a friend.” – Unknown
55. Do you not know that a man is not dead while his name is still spoken?” – Terry Pratchett
Loss of a Sister Quotes
Losing a sister means losing a built-in best friend who has been with you since the very beginning. Even if you weren’t connected at the hip you always had each other’s backs — know that your unconditional love and memories will remain. If you have recently lost a sister, or still feel her profound loss, these quotes about the loss of a sister can hopefully give you some peace.
56. “My sister will die over and over again for the rest of my life. Grief is forever. It doesn’t go away; it becomes a part of you, step for step, breath for breath.” – Jandy Nelson, “The Sky is Everywhere”
57. “Not always eye to eye, but always heart to heart.” – Unknown
58. “If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?” – Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper
59. “A sister is a little bit of childhood that can never be lost.” – Marion C. Garretty
60. “She was a beautiful person, she was my sister, and I’m just as proud of her as I can be.” – Mary Porter
61. “My sister may not always be at my side, but she is always in my heart.” – Unknown
62. “There’s something god has given us, that’s more than family; He’s placed a love for you, my Sister, deep down in the heart of me.” – Allison Chambers Coxsey
63. “If you see a sunset, it’s me, smiling from behind it. If I go away far, and you see a star, if you find it, I’m inside it.” – Anna Williams
64. “I’ll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places, that this heart of mine embraces, all day through.” – Billie Holiday, I’ll Be Seeing You
Loss Quotes About Grief and Love
Love and grief go hand-in-hand, one can not exist without the other. The pain that comes after losing the love of someone is incomparable, and it may seem hard to move on without it. Dealing with heartache is something no one should have to go through alone and there are resources if you need to talk to someone.
These quotes about love and loss celebrate our special relationships and explore the profound grief one experiences when we lose someone dear.
65. “No one compares to you, but there’s no you, except in my dreams tonight.” – Lana Del Rey
66. “Though lovers be lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion.” – Dylan Thomas
67. “Your memory feels like home to me. So whenever my mind wanders, it always finds it’s way back to you.” – Ranata Suzuki
68. “I think about you. But I don’t say it anymore.” – Marguerite Duras
69. “At times in life you have to leave people where they left you.” – Angel Moreira
70. “It’s terrible that one doesn’t love people forever.” – Iris Murdoch
71. “Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” – Kahlil Gibran
72. “You can love someone so much…But you can never love people as much as you can miss them.” – John Green
73. “And he hated himself and hated her, too, for the ruin they’d made of each other.” – Dennis Lehane
74. “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson
75. “What the heart has once owned and had, it shall never lose.” – Henry Ward Beecher
Quotes About Loss of a Friendship
Friendships don’t always last the test of time, it’s natural for some people to grow apart. With that being said, the loss of a friendship still hurts whether it is on purpose, accidental or by no one’s fault at all. These quotes express the feeling of losing a friendship or a friend and may help you put your grief into words.
76. “To lose a friend is the greatest of all losses.” – Unknown
77. “Friendship is delicate as a glass, once broken it can be fixed but there will always be cracks.” – Waqar Ahmed
78. “The worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical. Even further beyond any other emotional pain one can feel. It is the betrayal of a friend.” – Heather Brewer
79. “You meet people who forget you. You forget people you meet. But sometimes you meet those people you can’t forget. Those are your friends.” – Unknown
80. “It is far better to be alone, than to be in bad company.” – George Washington
81. “Friendship is like a glass ornament, once it is broken, it can rarely be put back together in exactly the same way.” – Charles Kingsley
82. “The worst solitude is to be destitute of sincere friendship.” – Sir Francis Bacon
83. “We can’t feel the loss of a friend until they are apart from us.” – Debolina
84. “Friendship means understanding, not agreement. It means forgiveness, not forgetting. It means the memories last, even if contact is lost.” – Unknown
85. “Some people aren’t loyal to you. They are loyal to their needs of you. Once their needs change, so does their loyalty.” – Unknown
86. “Don’t feel sad over someone who gave up on you, feel sorry for them because they gave up on someone who would have never given up on them.” – Frank Ocean
87. “It hurt because it mattered.” – John Green
88. “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Loss of a Pet Quotes
For many, pets are a part of the family and are loved just the same. They lift our spirits and fill our hearts with unconditional love each time they greet us at the door.
These pet loss quotes can help affirm their impact on your life — you may even find yourself reminiscing on all the fond memories you shared together.
89. “There is no grief like the grief that does not speak.” – Henry Wordsworth
90. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France
91. “Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” – Mark Twain
92. “If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.” – James Herriot
93. “Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” – Roger Caras
94. “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers
95. “No heaven will not ever Heaven be. Unless my cats are there to welcome me.” – Unknown
96. “The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.” – Mark Twain
97. “Dogs…do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have, and to obtain the objects they have not. There is nothing of value they have to bequeath except their love and their faith.” – Eugene O’Neill, from his Dalmatian’s last will and testament
98. “A pet is never truly forgotten until it is no longer remembered.” – Lacie Petitto
99. “It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch.” – Unknown
100. “If I have any beliefs about immortality it is that certain dogs I know will go to heaven, and very very few people.” – Jame Thurber