200+ Comforting Quotes About Losing a Loved One

It’s hard to find the right words to describe the sense of overwhelming grief and sadness that comes with losing a loved one. Although you had an unspeakable love for this person, you should rest assured your present grief isn’t going to last forever. Your lost ones will always have a place in your heart, but you will get used to living without them by your side. Whether you’re looking to comfort a loved one or yourself, here are some quotes about losing a loved one to help you through the grieving process:

Beautiful Love Quotes that will Make You Misty-Eyed:

1. “Some people, they can’t just move on, you know, mourn and cry and be done with it. Or at least seem to be. But for me… I don’t know. I didn’t want to fix it, to forget. It wasn’t something that was broken. It’s just… something that happened. And like that hole, I’m just finding ways, every day, of working around it. Respecting and remembering and getting on at the same time.” — Sarah Dessen

2. “I love you every day. And now I will miss you every day.” — Mitch Albom

3. “Here is one of the worst things about having someone you love die: It happens again every single morning.” — Anna Quindlen

4. “What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us.” — Helen Keller

11. “How frighteningly few are the persons whose death would spoil our appetite and make the world seem empty.” — Eric Hoffer

12. “If we try to avoid loss and grief, we will never truly love.” — Megan Devine

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

14. “With deeper attachment, we usually have deeper grieving, and usually longer grieving.” — Ron Johnson

15. “There is nothing wrong with grief. It’s a natural extension of love. It’s a healthy and sane response to loss.” — Megan Devine

Grief Quotes About the Horror of Losing Loved Ones:

16. “It comes over us that we shall never again hear the laughter of our friend, that this garden is forever locked against us. And at that moment begins our true grief.” — Lauren Groff,

17. “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

18. “You don’t go around grieving all the time, but the grief is still there and always will be.” — Nigella Lawson

19. “Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place.” — Sarah Dessen

20. “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

21. “There is no grief like the grief that does not speak.” — Henry Wordsworth

22. “Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” — Rumi

23. “Sorrow is how we learn to love. Your heart isn’t breaking. It hurts because it’s getting larger. The larger it gets, the more love it holds.” — Rita Mae Brown

24. “There is no right way to grieve; there is only your way to grieve and that is different for everyone.” — Nathalie Himmelrich

25. “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.” — Unknown

26. “We do not ‘get over’ a death. We learn to carry the grief and integrate the loss in our lives. In our hearts, we carry those who have died. We grieve and we love. We remember.” — Nathalie Himmelrich

27. “Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.” — Haruki Murakami

28. “Life is the only thing which can never be replaced when lost.” — Lailah Gifty Akita

29. “Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained.” — Jonathan Harnisch

30. “Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.” — Robert Louis Stevenson

Quotes About Losing Your Mother Too Soon:

31. “When someone you love dies, and you’re not expecting it, you don’t lose her all at once; you lose her in pieces over a long time—the way the mail stops coming, and her scent fades from the pillows and even from the clothes in her closet and drawers. Gradually, you accumulate the parts of her that are gone. Just when the day comes—when there’s a particular missing part that overwhelms you with the feeling that she’s gone, forever—there comes another day, and another specifically missing part.” — John Irving

32. “My mother is a never-ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune.” — Graycie Harmon

33. “A mom’s hug lasts long after she lets go.” — Unknown

34. “Mother, you left us fond memories, your love is still our guide, although we cannot see you, you’re always at our side.” — Unknown

35. “A mother’s love is always with her children. Losing a mother is one of the deepest sorrows a heart can know. But her goodness, her caring, and her wisdom live on-like a legacy of love that will always be with you. May that love surround you now and bring you peace.” — Unknown

36. “Mother’s hold their children’s hands for a while, but their hearts forever.” — Unknown

37. “I truly never learned what the words ‘I miss you’ were until I reached for my mom’s hand and it wasn’t there.” — Unknown

38. “The death of a mother is the first sorrow wept without her.” — Anonymous

39. “I miss the warmth of your gentle hug and the love I felt when my arms were wrapped around you. I miss seeing your beautiful smile and the sound of your voice saying my name. I miss hearing you say, ‘I love you,’ and me saying, ‘I love you’ in return.” — Millie P. Lorenz

40. “The mother memories that are closest to my heart are the small gentle ones that I have carried over from the days of my childhood. They are not profound, but they have stayed with me through life, and when I am very old, they will still be near.” — Margaret Sanger

41. “There is no death, daughter. People only die when we forget them,” my mother explained shortly before she left me. “If you can remember me, I will be with you always.” — Isabel Allende

42. “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”– Abraham Lincoln

43. “You were my home, Mother. I had no home but you.” — Janet Fitch

44. “Hold dear to your parents for it is a scary and confusing world without them.” — Emily Dickinson

45. “Life has to end, she said. Love doesn’t.” — Mitch Albom

Quotes About Losing Your Father Too Soon:

46. “This is the price you pay for having a great father. You get the wonder, the joy, the tender moments – and you get the tears at the end, too.” — Harlan Coben

47. “There is no expiration date on the love between a father and his child.” — Jennifer Williamson

48. “No matter how old we are, we still need our dads, and wonder how we’ll get by without them.” — Jennifer Williamson

49. “Deeply, I know this, that love triumphs over death. My father continues to be loved, and therefore he remains by my side.” — Jennifer Williamson

50. “It doesn’t matter who my father was; it matters who I remember he was.” — Anne Sexton

51. “When a great man dies, for years the light he leaves behind him, lies on the paths of men.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

52. “Now I know why you always told me to be strong. You knew that one day I would need the strength to bear your loss.” — Unknown

53. “When my father didn’t have my hand, he had my back.” — Linda Poindexter

53. “If there is any immortality to be had among us human beings, it is certainly only in the love that we leave behind. Fathers like mine don’t ever die.” — Leo Buscaglia

54. “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me.” — Jim Valvano

55. “I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.” — Umberto Eco

56. “The death of a parent is rarely expected and never accepted.” — Shane Pendley

57. “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” — Ernest Hemingway

58. “My father gave me my dreams. Thanks to him, I could see a future.” — Liza Minnelli

59. “Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, story-tellers, and singers of song.” — Pam Brown

60. “To her, the name of father was another name for love.” — Fanny Fern

Quotes About Losing a Friend Too Soon:

61. “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” — Mitch Albom

62. “It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up. And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things.” — Lemony Snicket,

63. “The friends we have lost do not repose under the ground. They are buried deep in our hearts. It has been thus ordained that they may always accompany us.” — Alexandre Dumas

64. “We understand death only after it has placed its hands on someone we love.” — Madame de Stael

65. “Grief can destroy you –or focus you. You can decide a relationship was all for nothing if it had to end in death, and you alone. Or you can realize that every moment of it had more meaning than you dared to recognize at the time, so much meaning it scared you, so you just lived, just took for granted the love and laughter of each day, and didn’t allow yourself to consider the sacredness of it.” — Dean Koontz

66. “The effects of loss are acute, and unique to each individual. Not everyone mourns in the same way, but everyone mourns.” — Richelle E. Goodrich

67. “Those we love don’t go away, they walk beside us every day. Unseen, unheard but always near, still loved, still missed, and held so dear.” — Unknown

68. “Whenever I am missing you, I also remember how fortunate I was that you were in my life. I wouldn’t trade those moments for the world.” — Unknown

69. “Sometimes, only one person is missing, and the whole world seems depopulated.” — Alphonse de Lamartine

70. “My father always used to say that when you die, if you’ve got five real friends, then you’ve had a great life.” — Lee Iacocca

71. “While we are mourning the loss of our friend, others are rejoicing to meet him behind the veil.” — John Taylor

72. “The comfort of having a friend may be taken away, but not that of having had one.” — Seneca

73. “The loss of a friend is like that of a limb; time may heal the anguish of the wound, but the loss cannot be repaired.” — Robert Southey

74. “The bond between friends cannot be broken by chance; no interval of time or space can destroy it. Not even death itself can part true friends.” — John Cassian

75. “Even the best of friends cannot attend each other’s funeral.” — Kehlog Albran

Sad Quotes About Dealing with the Reality of Death:

76. “When you lose someone you were close to, you have to reassess your picture of the world and your place in it. The more your identity was wrapped up with the deceased, the more difficult the loss.” — Meghan O’Rourke

77. “Everyone keeps telling me that time heals all wounds, but no one can tell me what I’m supposed to do right now. Right now I can’t sleep. It’s right now that I can’t eat. Right now I still hear his voice and sense his presence even though I know he’s not here. Right now all I seem to do is cry. I know all about time and wounds healing, but even if I had all the time in the world, I still don’t know what to do with all this hurt right now.” — Nina Guilbeau

78. “When you lose someone, you get used to living day to day without them. But you’ll never get used to the ‘10 second heartbreak.’ That’s the time it takes to wake to full consciousness each day and remember.” — Nina Guilbeau

79. “Losing people you love affects you. It is buried inside of you and becomes this big, deep hole of ache. It doesn’t magically go away, even when you stop officially mourning.” — Carrie Jones

80. “I cried endlessly when you died but I promise, I won’t let the tears mar the smiles that you’ve given me when you were alive.” — Unknown

81. “There should be a statute of limitation on grief. A rulebook that says it is all right to wake up crying, but only for a month. That after 42 days you will no longer turn with your heart racing, certain you have heard her call out your name. That there will be no fine imposed if you feel the need to clean out her desk; take down her artwork from the refrigerator; turn over a school portrait as you pass – if only because it cuts you fresh again to see it. That it’s okay to measure the time she has been gone, the way we once measured her birthdays.” — Jodi Picoult

82. “The world changes from year to year, our lives from day to day, but the love and memory of you, shall never pass away.” — Unknown

83. “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.” — C.S. Lewis

84. “Like daily sads, major grief does end. It takes time to grieve. Ninety-nine percent of the time grief is finished in minutes or hours if we allow it.” — Ron Johnson

85. “There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.” — Washington Irving

86. “You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” — J.K. Rowling

87. “Without you in my arms, I feel an emptiness in my soul. I find myself searching the crowds for your face – I know it’s an impossibility, but I cannot help myself.” — Nicholas Sparks

88. “Grief is a most peculiar thing; we’re so helpless in the face of it. It’s like a window that will simply open of its own accord. The room grows cold, and we can do nothing but shiver. But it opens a little less each time, and a little less; and one day we wonder what has become of it.” — Arthur Golden

89. “No matter how bad your heart is broken, the world doesn’t stop for your grief.” — Faraaz Kazi

90. “Words are like nets – we hope they’ll cover what we mean, but we know they can’t possibly hold that much joy, or grief, or wonder.” — Jodi Picoult

Uplifting Quotes About Learning to Survive Without Them:

91. “See, as much as you want to hold on to the bitter sore memory that someone has left this world, you are still in it.” — Jodi Picoult

92. “Maybe she’ll learn something about what death really is, which is where the pain stops and the good memories begin. Not the end of life but the end of pain.” — Stephen King

93. “Do we leave the dead behind or do we take them with us? I think we take them with us. They accompany us. They remain with us, if in another form.” — Jan-Philipp Sendker

94. “The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” — Pierre Auguste Renoir

95. “Death is a challenge. It tells us not to waste time… It tells us to tell each other right now that we love each other.” — Leo Buscaglia

96. “A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.” — Maya Angelou

97. “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” — Ted Geisel

98. “We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.” — Chuck Palahniuk

99. “No one can ‘get over’ grief, but everyone can ‘get through grief’.” — Ron Johnson

100. “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

101.  “Grief, no matter how you try to cater to its wail, has a way of fading away.” — V.C. Andrews

102. “You will survive and you will find purpose in the chaos. Moving on doesn’t mean letting go.” — Mary VanHaute

103. “It is perfectly okay to admit you’re not okay.” — Unknown

104. “Grief does not change you, Hazel. It reveals you.” — John Green

105. “Only through the significant loss of my loved ones have I truly begun to live. When their eyes closed, mine were opened.” — Angie Corbett-Kuiper

Quotes Taken from a Proverb or a Bible Verse:

106. “And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”

107. “A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted.”

108. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

109. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.”

110. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

111. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

112. “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

113. “For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.”

114. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

115. “And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.'”

116. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

117. “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.”

118. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

119. “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

120. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Comforting, Poetic Words of Wisdom:

121. “Perhaps they are not stars in the sky, but rather openings where our loved ones shine down to let us know they are happy.” — Eskimo Proverb

122. “Those we love and lose are always connected by heartstrings into infinity.” — Terri Guillemets

123. “Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality. — Emily Dickinson

124. “Fire tests gold, suffering tests brave men.” — Seneca

125. “Life is full of grief, to exactly the degree we allow ourselves to love other people.” — Orson Scott Card

126. “Sometimes, only one person is missing, and the whole world seems depopulated.” — Alphonse de Lamartine

127. “When someone you love becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure.” — Unknown

128. “Be the things you loved most about the people who are gone.” — Unknown

129. “When it is darkest, we can see the stars.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

130. “It takes strength to make your way through grief, to grab hold of life and let it pull you forward.” — Patti Davis

131. “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

132. “Life seems sometimes like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end. That’s the given. How you respond to those losses, what you make of what’s left, that’s the part you have to make up as you go.” — Katharine Weber

133. “This is not goodbye, my darling, this is a thank you. Thank you for coming into my life and giving me joy.” — Nicholas Sparks

134. “Grit your teeth and let it hurt. Don’t deny it, don’t be overwhelmed by it. It will not last forever.” — Rabbi Harold Kushner​

135. “Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak knits up the o-er wrought heart and bids it break.” — William Shakespeare

Funny Quotes About Death and Dying:

136. “Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.” — Yogi Berra

137. “I’m always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize that I’m listening to it.” — George Carlin

138. “Life is hard. Then you die. Then they throw dirt in your face. Then the worms eat you. Be grateful if it happens in that order.” — David Gerrold

139. “There are more dead people than living, and their numbers are increasing. The living are getting rarer.” — Eugene Lonesco

140. “The trouble with quotes about death is that 99.9% of them are made by people who are still alive.” — Joshua Burns

141. “I’m very pleased to be here. Let’s face it—at my age, I’m very pleased to be anywhere.” — George Burns

142. “Dying is easy; it’s living that scares me to death.” — Annie Lennox

143. “I intend to live forever or die trying.” — Groucho Marx

144. “In this world, nothing can be certain, except death and taxes.” — Benjamin Franklin

145. “Fear of death increases in exact proportion to increase in wealth.” — Ernest Hemingway

146. “If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the UP button.” — Sam Levenson

147. “When I die, I hope to go to heaven, whatever the hell that is.” — Ayn Rand

148. “Immortality . . . a fate worse than death.” — Edgar A Shoaff

149.  “Sometimes I wish my first word was ‘quote’ so that on my deathbed, my last words could be ‘end quote.'” — Steven Wright

150. “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” — Isaac Asimov

Words of Condolence After Losing a Child:

151. “Any woman who’d ever lost a child knew of the hollowness that remained within the soul.” — Brittainy C. Cherry

152. “The best advice that I got during counseling: Don’t judge your spouse’s grief response. Give them the freedom to grieve their own way.” — Rachel Crawford

153. “Think of your child, then, not as dead, but as living; not as a flower that has withered, but as one that is transplanted, and touched by a Divine hand, is blooming in richer colors and sweeter shades than those of earth.” — Richard Hooker

154. “An angel in the book of life wrote down my baby’s birth. Then whispered as she closed the book ‘too beautiful for earth’.” — Unknown

155. “We weep over the graves of infants and the little ones taken from us by death; but an early grave may be the shortest way to heaven.” — Tryon Edwards

156. “There is no footprint too small to leave an imprint on this world.” — Unknown

157. “It is not length of life, but depth of life.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

158. “You will not accept your child’s death until you have completed the healing. Hurt, anguish, tears, yearning, pining are part of the healing.” — Elizabeth B. Brown

159. “Each lost child is precious. We feel each loss acutely, however we have suffered it.” — Elaine Storkey

160. “Parents who have just lost a child cannot believe any words of hope, They do not want to hear them yet.” — Elaine Storkey

161. “A woman who has lost her baby through miscarriage may feel a very deep loss which few others seem to understand.” — Elaine Storkey

162. “No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away.” — Terry Pratchett

163. “Death is easier than a wretched life; and better never to have born than to live and fare badly.” — Aeschylus

164. “As someone who has lived the nightmare of losing a child, I know that the enormous hole left behind remains forever.” — Arthur Honegger

165. “There’s no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower

Quotes About Losing a Pet:

166. “If there is a heaven, it’s certain our animals are to be there. Their lives become so interwoven with our own, it would take more than an archangel to detangle them.” — Pam Brown

167. “Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.” — Amy Sedaris

168. “The bond with a dog is as lasting as the ties of this earth can ever be.” — Konrad Lorenz

169. “Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them and filling an emptiness we didn’t ever know we had.” — Thom Jones

170. “A pet is never truly forgotten until it is no longer remembered.” — Lacie Petitto

171. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” — Anatole France

172. “What greater gift than the love of a cat.” — Charles Dickens

173. “His ears were often the first thing to catch my tears.” — Elizabeth Barrett Browning

174. “If I have any beliefs about immortality it is that certain dogs I know will go to heaven, and very very few people.” — James Thurber

175. “No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch.” — Leo Dworken

176. “Time spent with a cat is never wasted.” — Sigmund Freud

177. “Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he’s owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.” — Gene Hill

178. “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” — Winnie The Pooh

179. “Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.” — Roger Caras

180. “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” — Will Rogers

A Short and Sweet Sympathy Quote to Write in a Sympathy Card:

181. “Where lives pass, memories carry on forever.”

182. “I want to extend my deepest sympathy. I hope you feel surrounded by much love.”

183. “Holding you close in my thoughts and hoping you are doing OK.”

184. “Our family is keeping your family in our thoughts and prayers.”

185. “Words fail to express my sorrow for your loss. Please know I am with you through this difficult time.”

186. “Sending healing prayers and comforting hugs. May your loved one’s beautiful memory remain in your hearts.”

187. “My heart goes out to you during this painful time. I’m praying for you, and the soul of your loved one. “

188. “Please know I am here to listen, comfort, and lean on during this difficult time.”

189. “I’m sorry about your lost loved ones. Please know we are only a phone call away.”

190. “I hope this card finds you surrounded by strength and compassion.”

191. “We are thankful to be a part of your life and hope we can offer comfort and strength during your time of need.”

192. “May you find comfort in knowing you are not alone, you are surrounded by those who care for you.”

193. “Praying for you and your family during this difficult time. I hope you feel the power of God’s love and His presence in your lives. “

194. “Praying that God’s love enfolds you and comforts you through the pain. I hope He helps you heal from your greatest loss. “

195. “I was so shocked to hear about their death. I feel deep grief and would like to give my heartfelt condolences during this challenging time. “

Religious Quotes About Heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ:

196. “Heaven means to be one with God.” — Confucius

197. “Keep your head up. God gives his hardest battles to his strongest soldiers.” — Unknown

198.  “Heaven lent you a soul Earth will lend a grave.” — Christian Nevell Bovee

199. “He spake well who said that graves are the footprints of angels.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

200.  “God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.” — J.M. Barrie

Resources for Those Grieving

Call Centers

• Crisis Response Network for Grieving and Loss
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357)
• Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 (TALK)
• Suicide Prevention Lifeline for Hearing Impaired: 1-800-799-4889
• The Samaritans: (877) 870-4673 (HOPE)
• Trevor Project Lifeline – Hotline for LGBT youth, (866) 488-7386
• Child Help USA National Hotline – For youth who are suffering from child abuse, 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)
• Boys Town National Hotline – Serving all at-risk teens and children, (800) 448-3000
• National Teen Dating Violence Hotline – Concerns about dating relationships, 1-866-331-9474 (or text “loveis” to 22522)

Text Hotlines

• Crisis Text Line (Or, on your smartphone, text HOME to 741741)
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
• IMAlive