“Finally, rocking the whole harbour and carrying to every city windows; besetting kitchens with dinner on the stove, and shoddy hotel bedrooms where sheets are never changed, and desks waiting for children to come home, and schools and tennis courts and graveyards; plunging everything into a moment of grief and ruthlessly tearing even the hearts of the uninvolved, the Rakuyo's horn screamed out one last enormous farewell. Trailing white smoke, she sailed straight out to sea.”
Source: The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea
“For a brief moment, I wonder if I would have listened to him if he hadn't died. Would I have clung to his every word so tightly if his advice had felt unlimited?”
Source: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
“The loss you don't know about is no less a loss, but it costs you nothing and so it causes you no pain.”
Source: Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss
“What will you say when the Grim Reaper suddenly appears and asks, ‘What do you have to show for your life?’
In a world of many time-consuming pursuits, most utterly inane and many major drags on our creative potential, if your answer is ‘Not much,’ it’s at least worth considering that you’ve spent your time wisely.”
Source: Get Out of Here Alive: Inner Alchemy & Immortality
“It was easy to forget that the real ghost stories had little to do with that cinematic nonsense and everything to do with the human experience: life, love, loss, faith, redemption.”
Source: After Death
“Grief is not fixable, curable, or preventable. It is not a “condition” or pathology.”
Source: Permission to Grieve: Creating Grace, Space, & Room to Breathe in the Aftermath of Loss
“I don’t think we ever let go of loved ones. They’re always in our hearts. I do think time lessens the pain of a loss but they never, ever leave us. That’s what memories are for.”
“Grief is like the waves of the ocean, on a never-ending mission that keeps rolling, only to crash at your feet. Sometimes, it rages in anger, threatening to swallow everything else left of you. Other times, it flows gently, brushing your feet softly but it never stops rolling. For as long as the waves of the ocean remain, so is the pain as long as life remains.”
“She reached across, grabbed my hand. I'm not going anywhere, Hig, she said. Where would I go?
Lots of places, I thought but I didn't say anything. To the other side for one. Or way way inside. A lot of places someone else can never follow.”
Source: The Dog Stars
“Die now! For you can never be as happy as you are at this moment and it would be better to die with this feeling in your heart than know the bitterness of its loss.”