75+ grief quotes to give you comfort and help you heal

When we acknowledge our need for healing, we acknowledge that something in us has been broken and is in need of compassionate self-care, grace and time. Those things can help get us to a place of repair and restoration. Here are words that carry hopes for healing.

• Tears don’t measure weakness. They measure our need to grieve and keep loving the one we’ve lost. – Melvina Young
• Let there be happy memories that take us by surprise, welcome thoughts of the one we miss, and healing moments that fill our hearts with hope. – Keely Chace
• There’s honor in such a well-lived life…there’s healing in remembering…there’s hope in knowing love goes on forever. – Diana Manning
• Like sun through morning mist, the healing warmth of love shines through sorrow. – Dean Walley
• Each tear releases a bit of hurt, making room, little by little, for healing to take its place. – Keely Chace
• Healing is a journey with a pace its very own. It won’t be rushed or hurried. It knows what’s right for you alone. – Cheryl Hawkinson
• In quiet moments, may healing begin. In broken places, may brightness shine in. – Keely Chace

We might be asking ourselves, “How long will I be grieving?” The simple answer is that we grieve as long as it takes. Grief will be different depending on the person we’ve lost and the relationship, the time of life when we lose someone, the circumstance and our own capacity to process the loss and cope. Here are some words to remind us that it’s okay to grieve and find healing in our own time.

• Sadness takes its own time. It can’t be hurried along. It can’t be rushed. It moves heavily across the landscape of the heart until time and love can carry it further into the distance. – Melvina Young
• There will be a time for figuring out how to move forward. But for now, it’s enough to be still, to process, to gather our strength. To wait for hope. – Keely Chace
• There is no timeline for grief, no template for healing, no guideposts to follow. There is only our heart letting us know when we’re ready to heal in our own way and time. – Melvina Young
• To have strong feelings is what living and loving are all about. It’s all right to go on remembering and missing someone who meant so much. – Barb Loots
• We wouldn’t miss them so much if we didn’t love them so much. – Meghan Craig

As heavy as grief is, other emotions like pride in a person’s legacy or gratitude for who they’ve been in our lives can live alongside it. There can even be joy that our loved ones have been received into eternal peace and love, depending on our religious or spiritual beliefs. Here are some words reflecting those feelings.

• Always forward. With love and remembrance, that’s how we move. – Keion Jackson
• A life well-lived is simply this…one that adds to the beauty, the goodness, and the love in the world. – Suzanne Berry
• One good life touches another, which touches another…and we are all connected, we are all part of a thousand hearts. – Kat Stano
• A life well-lived strengthens and lifts all of us up. – Ellen Brenneman
• That lasting connection we feel to the people we’ve loved reassures us that, in some unknowable way, love is waiting for us all. – Lisa Riggin
• Our hearts are heavy. Our love is strong. – Jake Gahr
• Their light shines still from a farther heaven. – Melvina Young
• Free at last to fly home—now in a place of peace and love. – Melvina Young
• Faith tells us that it may be the end of something beautiful…but it’s also the beginning of something glorious. – Melvina Young
• Mourning with you, praying for you, and rejoicing that a beloved soul is now at peace. – Melvina Young

There is something in the rhythms of nature and the seasons that acts as a balm to our spirits. Grief messages that reflect those rhythms can deliver just the right note of inspiration and hope. 

• When it feels as though nothing will ease your grief, hold on to the belief that every new sunrise brings you closer to comfort.
• Winter to spring, darkness to light, sadness to peace.
• The flower is gone, but its beauty lives on. We stand in grief as a beautiful life is taken from this earth. And we stand in wonder at the legacy of love it leaves behind. – Cat Hollyer
• When evening falls and shadows dim and all that’s left are stars…that’s when our dear ones shine the most. Their love is never far. – Kat Stano
• Love will lift you up from under the waves of loss. – Melvina Young
• We are here, like flowers, for a season. But love, like mountains, lasts for all time. –Melvina Young
• Our souls, like the sea, move from one shore to the next to find new places of beauty. –Melvina Young
• You would never know stars were there if you looked for them in a sunlit sky. It’s only when darkness falls that you realize…some things are always shining over us…just beyond our sight. – Suzanne Berry
• Winter visits each of us, but that is not the end. Spring will keep its promises. It always comes, my friend.  – Suzanne Berry
• Grief is the waiting room. But one day hope and healing will call our/your name. – Keely Chace
• Even on dark days we can look to light spaces in the clouds and know the sun is still there. – Melvina Young

In certain moments of grief, there’s comfort in a gentle reminder of a higher power. That’s true whether you belong to a specific faith tradition or are spiritual in your own way.

• In our longest, hardest hours, that’s when God’s love touches us most—when it holds us, comforts us, and prepares us to move through dark and into steadfast light. – Courtney Taylor
• The angels are singing welcome, and the ancestors are shouting joy that a beautiful soul has come home to perfect peace and love. – Melvina Young
• The love that surrounds us—the love that was here before us and will be here after us—will hold us up. – Dan Taylor 
• For every tearful good-bye in this world, there’s a welcome “hello” in a new one. – Renee Daniels
• Cradled by the light of the moon, surrounded by the stars, our loved ones find their place among the heavens. – Kat Stano
• Those we’ve lost are borne up on wings of love that carry them gently into the light. –Ellen Brenneman
• They are forever at peace in the presence of the Father and joined in joy with the ancestors. – Melvina Young
• Dear Lord, please bless all those in pain. Comfort those who grieve. Show them how your tender care will never fail. And bless their hearts with peace. – Linda Elrod
• Though sorrow comes to every heart that dares to let love in, it’s that same love that carries us until we meet again. – Suzanne Berry
• Beyond the sadness, hope waits with outstretched arms. Beyond the parting, heaven waits with open doors. – Renee Daniels
• If a sunset can shine with such glory, then what must heaven be? – Cheryl Hawkinson
• He holds the hand you can’t touch. He gently kisses the face you can’t see. He fills the heart that knows it’s never alone because love is always, always there. – Melvina Young

An unexpected loss adds layers of shock to our grief. Death is bewildering in its own way. But when it comes suddenly and without warning it can feel like your world has been knocked off its axis and no longer makes sense. Here are some words of comfort for this kind of loss. 

• When we lose someone in a way we can’t imagine, love pulls us closer together. – Kat Stano
• There’s no such thing as “moving on.” We go forward, trying to find our footing, figuring out how to live—how to love—after such loss. – Amy Trowbridge-Yates
• In times of such tragedy and sorrow, there are no words or answers. Just love. So much love. – Suzanne Berry
• Now there is no more pain. Your loved one is safe and well in a place where peace is endless. – Kat Stano

It’s true—memories of a lost loved one can feel a little raw at any stage of grief. But they can also comfort us when we need it most and serve as a way for our loved one’s spirit and legacy to live on through us. 

• Like flowers pressed between the pages of a book, beautiful memories are ours to keep. – Melvina Young
• In the beauty of memories left behind, in the lives touched and changed, in the gifts of wisdom shared…those we love live on, always. ­– Ellen Brenneman
• The music still plays in our hearts even after the song has faded away. – Kevin Dilmore
• What a blessing to call up beautiful memories whenever we need them. What a blessing to feel close to our loved ones each time we remember. – Alarie Tennille

These words speak to the complicated mix of emotions that comes with saying good-bye to a loved one who’s endured a long illness.

• Now there is no suffering. Now there is no more pain. Peace and comfort have taken their places. Peace and comfort will heal your heart. – Renee Daniels
• Peace, after a long journey. Love, after a great loss. – Kat Stano
• A long good-bye is, in many ways, the hardest good-bye of all. – Linda Staten
• A long, hard path has turned toward gentle rest and sweet release. – Ginnie Job
• It is always too soon to say good-bye. Even though there is relief at the end of great suffering, that does not dim the sorrow we feel. – Jeannie Hund
• We honor the struggle…and claim the peace that was found. – Ginnie Job

No matter how many years go by, the winter holidays can be an especially difficult time to be missing someone you love. Here are words that acknowledge that sadness in the midst of all the holiday festivities.

• Amid the season’s hustle and bustle, a warm, quiet place is reserved in our hearts for remembering the ones we’re missing. – Suzanne Berry
• Though they’re gone, they still live on in every happy holiday memory. – Sara Quenzer
• May you find that your loved one is still there in the glows and touches of the season. As the beauty of the holidays begins to surround you, I hope that even in the moments of grief, your heart shines with all the things that remind you of your loved one. – Kat Stano
• There’s a new star shining down on us this Christmas. – Caroline Cattrell
• It’s the ones who touch our lives in the biggest way who show us that it’s possible to laugh and cry at the same time. – Keely Chace
• May the clear midnight skies and the quiet snowfall of the season give you peace—knowing that your loved one has found a place among nature’s eternal beauty. – Suzanne Berry
• Take Christmas as a sign that when this sorrow has passed, faith will yet survive, joy will come alive, life and love will last. – Bill Gray
• Let all the Christmas bells that ring give voice to our remembering: A loved one lived among us here and will be sadly missed this year. – Jim Howard

We hope these words have brought you a glimpse of light, shown you the first step on a new path or just given you permission to feel the way you feel in this moment. You might even want to bookmark this page, so you can easily return along your journey.

Remember to take care of yourself. Remember to breathe. And when you feel up to it, remember to spend time with the ones who love you.

If you’d like more suggestions on either coping with grief or supporting someone who is grieving, we have some here:

• How to write an obituary: What to say about the life of a loved one
• Grief support on anniversaries, birthdays and special occasions
• Food for friends in need
• Comforting words: What to say and do in tough times
• How to support a friend or loved one in need