“So who is better off, those who share love long enough to see which parts inevitably fade or those who lose their love when it is still pristine? I think each is lonely in a different place, though if you lose your love while it is still perfect you at least have a clear explanation for your grief, while if it gradually crumbles in your hands you do not.” IfsThinkingLongStillsDifferentEnoughHandsLosesPerfectGriefClearShareLonelyExplanationFadesBetter OffDifferent PlacePristine Book:Losing Julia Source: Losing Julia
“ought we not, from time to time, open ourselves up to cosmic sadness? ... Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears his grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate. But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve most of the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge-from which new sorrows will be born for others-then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply.” IfsWorldGivingBornSpaceGriefClearSadnessThis WorldBearsOughtSorrowHatredRevengeDuesHonestlyCeaseDecentCosmicShelterReserves Author:Etty Hillesum
“Those who will not slip beneath the still surface on the well of grief turning downward through it s black water to the place we cannot breathe will never know the source from which we drink, the secret water, cold and clear, nor find in the darkness glimmering the small round coins thrown by those who wished for something else.” KnowsWellsStillsBlackWaterGriefSecretDarknessClearSourceColdDrinkRoundsSurfaceBreatheThrownSlipsCoins Author:David Whyte
“The message is clear: By all means become an abomination -- but only while unhinged by grief or wrath.” MeanGriefClearMessagesWrathAbominationLestatCosy Author:Glen Duncan
“She understood the genre constraints, the decencies were supposed to be observing. The morally cosy vision allows the embrace of monstrosity only as a reaction to suffering or as an act of rage against the Almighty. Vampire interviewee Louis is in despair at his brother’s death when he accepts Lestat’s offer. Frankenstein’s creature is driven to violence by the violence done to him. Even Lucifer’s rebellion emerges from the agony of injured price. The message is clear: By all means become an abomination—but only while unhinged by grief or wrath.” MeanDoneSufferingGriefAcceptingVisionClearViolenceBrotherOffersCreaturesDespairMessagesUnderstoodEmbraceDrivenRageReactionsVampireSupposed To BeGenreRebellionAgonyAlmightyWrathDecencyObservingInjuredConstraintsLuciferAbominationMonstrosityLestatCosy Author:Glen Duncan
“He always thought that Touie's long illness would somehow prepare him for her death. He always imagined that grief anf guilt, if they followed, would be more clear-edged, more defined, more finite. Instead they seem like weather, like clouds constantly re-forming into new shapes, blown by nameless, unidentifiable winds.” IfsLongSeemsWould BeGriefClearWindShapesGuiltCloudsIllnessWeatherDefinedFiniteNameless Author:Julian Barnes
“Do not surrender your grief so quickly Let it cut more deeply Let it ferment and season you As few human or divine ingredients can Something is missing in my heart tonight That has made my eyes so soft And my voice so tender And my need of God so absolutely clear.” NeedsHumansHeartMadeWisdomEyeSpiritualVoiceGriefClearCuttingMissingDivineMy HeartSeasonsSurrenderTonightIngredients Author:Hafez
“Jesmyn Ward returns to the world of her first two books, but here in the mode of non-fiction. A clear-eyed witness to the harrowing stories of 'men we reaped,' she quickens the dead and brings them, vividly alive again. An eloquent, grief-steeped account.” MenWorldFirstsTwoBookStoriesGriefFictionClearAliveReturnAccountsWitnessNon FictionEloquent Author:Nicholas Delbanco