Best Widows Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“In any story the two hardest things to be are a widow or an orphan. Those are the bad cards to draw from the deck marked "life." Because those are the two moments the people you love the most die. It's heart break. Heart shatter. Heart starve. It's so much loss that it's easier if you just died and started the game over. But you can't. You have to wander. Part of it is losing your tribe and being homeless. Part of it is being alone in the dark. I won't lie to you. The deck marked "life" is stacked full of bum cards.”

Life Death Challenges Loss Grief Heartbreak Mourning Widows Orphans Widowhood

Book:Everything Sad Is Untrue

Source: Everything Sad Is Untrue

“May a man live well-enough and long-enough, to leave many joyful widows behind him.”

Men Life Pleasure Widows Polygamy Roman Payne Wives

Book:Cities & Countries

Source: Cities & Countries

“May a man live well-, and long-enough, to leave many joyful widows behind him.”

Men Humor Funny Women Dying Humour Living Widows Roman Payne

Author:Roman Payne

“How are you? I'm shattered, thanks, how are you? I walk aimlessly through the rooms of my house, what have you been up to? I have woken up in the middle of the last 240 nights in a heart-pounding sweat, what's new with you? I sometimes wish I would never wake up, have you been on vacation this year? I ache for the arms of my sweetheart to hold me tight, how's your family? I feel barren and useless and creepy and mundane, seen any good movies lately? I'm terrified that I'll feel this way forever, I like that sweater you're wearing. I keep seeing his body on the hospital gurney, don't you love this weather. My broken heart is in my throat, let's do lunch. I'm so completely and utterly tired of being sad, thanks, how are you?”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Silverstein

“I love you. I want to know what you are going through, if not now, then some day I want to sit with you and hear it. My imagination is not big enough to comprehend the emotions you are having. How small and insignificant all of this worldly stuff must seem to you. Can you talk? You must miss him intensely. You must think about him in every moment. Which is harder for you, being alone or being in the world of people? Life must feel surreal to you.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Silverstein

“Feel sorry for yourself. Sure, your tiny steel-ribbed mother told you never to do that, But who the hell is going to do it for you? "Piangi, piangi," the old man in the opera tells Violetta. "Cry, honey, cry." Do it right. Do it yourself.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Lise Menn

“I love you. How many times have you been asked, "How are you" today? It's a dreadful question. It's an absurd question. Knowing you and seeing what has happened in your life makes me stop in my tracks and catch myself before I ask anyone that question again. How the hell can you answer that question in the aisle of a supermarket? Come back to the house, you say. Bring your toothbrush and call your boss. You will need a week to hear the complete answer. And you will never be the same if you listen. It's the question that the entire human race reduces itself to each and every day, in each and every encounter, and without the intention of ever truly hearing the answer.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Silverstein

“I became very good at protecting all who would ask. How are you? I'm all right. I'm fine. I'm hanging in there. I'm feeling OK. Thanks for asking. I'm good. I'm doing well. I'm a little tired. I'm handling things. I'm fine, thanks to all of you. I'm getting better. I'm keeping busy. I'm making progress. Fine, better, well, good and thank you for asking.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Silverstein

“Look, it's like falling out of a twenty-story building. All your good friends, they try to puff themselves up for you as soft as possible, But they're still only couch pillows. They may save your life when you hit them, But you're still gonna break every bone in your body.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Lise Menn

“I have yet to meet one widow who hasn't changed in monumental ways as she has coped with her loss. Most of us have gotten to the point where we are not the "pleasers" we once were. We say what we think, we realize that life is precious, and we don't have time to be anything less than who we really are.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Catherine Tidd

“I know how you feel. I hope you're keeping busy. You look good. You will see the gift in this tragedy. Time will heal. The holidays will be tough. It will get easier. I'm glad to hear you're doing well. You're a strong person. Have you gone away at all? How are the kids? How's his mother doing? Call me if you need anything, anything at all.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Silverstein

“I love you. I'm probably going to fail you. My life is full of distractions and I need to live my life. You understand this about me and everyone else, more than I can ever imagine. We need to live our lives. And so I fear that I am not there for you. And my own guilt about that is hard to face. Being with you scares me and makes me uneasy. It's hard to be around truth manifest. I'm not strong enough to hear your truth, know what you know and try to give you what you need. If I tell you this fear, will you still love me? I just want to sit with you, walk with you, hear your voice, hold your hand, be in your home, look at your face, watch you pet the cat, and beg you to trust me.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Silverstein

“Interregnum of old life and new. Angry with you for this dislocation. I loved you in my other life.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Donna Hilbert

“How much she's learned through love about everything, including that quadrant of self visible only to others but exceptionally accessed through the one who knows her best.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Natasha Sajé

“Days are not the way they were when he was alive.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Thiele

“Each day for me is filled with things that I used to look forward to in the morning. Now they feel empty and stressful. Handling my life by myself is sad for me. I liked being part of a team. I liked having someone else to share my day with every night.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Thiele

“Some things you have to do for yourself if you want them done right. Ironing your favorite dress with the tricky collar, Making hot chocolate the way you like it. Feeling sorry for you. Nobody else can do it properly.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Mourning Widows Self Pity Spouses

Author:Lise Menn

“You think you've stopped crying And then the blues come back, You wonder what brought them: The red pen? The wind in the yard? The plaid shirt in the bank? Your buried grief seeps to the surface, Like oil under tar sands. Let it go. It's the rich black residue of the past, Dead life becomes this stuff that sticks to the soles of your feet, Welling up when it damned well pleases. Let it go.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Letting Go Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Lise Menn

“I can only be healed by the particular sweetness of a man who saw into my soul and climbed in anyway. Emerson said "Give all to love" and I reply, is there anything else one might do?”

Love Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Elizabeth Page Roberts

“no matter how prepared you are you're never ready”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Preparation Grieving Widows

Book:The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

Source: The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

“Once over dinner I told her, of course he loved you! how could you doubt it? and she burst into tears, But he died!”

Love Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Widows Spouses

Book:The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

Source: The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

“Our grief mirrors our love.”

Love Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Widows Spouses

Book:The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

Source: The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

“You are my emergency contact. This is the emergency! My life is burning down!”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Emergencies Widows Spouses

Author:Elizabeth von Transehe

“Living in Greece I learned why so many women wore black: a year for parents, for a husband forever, telling the neighbors take care of me, I am weak with grief, I have turned to ash inside.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Book:The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

Source: The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

“I don't need again to learn the bitter lesson that everything I love is a flame between two fingers, no act undone, no word unsaid.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Donna Hilbert

“She says I don't know what to say, as if she'd been raised in the woods by wolves.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Support Dying Poem Grieving Widows Spouses

Book:The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

Source: The Widows' Handbook: Poetic Reflections on Grief and Survival

“It's hard to be a widow. People are afraid of me. They don't know what to say. Who knows what to say? I don't know what to say.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Alison Keeler Carrillo

“All moments are hard because I am constantly reminded that he is gone. What do you say in the face of such a brutal reality? Say, I'm so-o-o sorry, and then touch me.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Alison Keeler Carrillo

“What if that something that serves to preserve the memory of you is me?”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Memory Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Christine Silverstein

“I won't repeat the dream in which you leave me. Let's just say I know the world, how it alters in an instant, that I awaken sick in remorse and dread.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Donna Hilbert

“No one knows you're gone. The police still want donations from you And they summoned you for jury duty. The Economist wants you to take advantage of an early renewal offer And so does National Geographic. An acquaintance asks how you are doing (I shake my head) And a new friend wonders About your picture on my phone. They didn't know you. Because if they did, They would know That it is a different world now.”

Death Poetry Loss Grief Dying Poem Grieving Mourning Widows Spouses

Author:Elizabeth von Transehe

“All the women in this family are widowed quick. The men burn out on us like church candles and not long after we're married all that's left of them is a stain on the sheets that won't come off for all the scrubbing in the world.”

Women Widows Family Saga Matriarchy

Book:Carcoma

Source: Carcoma

“Whenever justice to ordinary men, widows, orphans, poor, disadvantaged and the general mass is delayed or denied, that leads to God’s frustration. At a time like that, God laments, WHERE IS A MAN”

Men God Justice Poor Mass Ordinary Man Frustration Denied Widows Like Delayed Is That Disadvantaged Orphans General Where Leads At Whenever Laments

Author:Sunday Adelaja

“We're bad luck, of course, we widows. We know it. Awkward silences occur around us. People tiptoe. Should we be invited to dinner, or will we cast a pall? We certainly try not to cast palls: palls are unpleasant.”

Silence Widows Awkwardness Awkward Silences Palls

Book:Old Babes in the Wood: Stories

Source: Old Babes in the Wood: Stories

“Had S E X? Sex, you can say it Charlie! Put your big girl panties on and be a grown up, you certainly can’t do it if you can’t even say it.” Bethany winked “And oh my God, what are you waiting for? It’s been over a month. After your five year dry spell, I’d think you’d be ready for some ‘wet weather’.”

Romance Best Friends Widows Second Chances

Book:Heart of a Soldier

Source: Heart of a Soldier

“There is always something to be made of pain. Your mother knits. She turns out scarves in every shade of red. They were for Christmas, and they kept you warm while she married over and over, taking you along. How could it work, when all those years she stored her widowed heart as though the dead come back.”

Pain Death Poetry Loss Grief Poem Mourning Widows Knitting Widowhood

Book:The House on Marshland

Source: The House on Marshland

“Never abandon widows, widowers and orphans.”

Inspiring Advice Encouragement Caring Uplifting Wise Sayings Loving Helping People Widows Needy Orphans Caring And Loving Caring For The Needy

Book:Think Great: Be Great!

Source: Think Great: Be Great!

“People will rather pass by the weak, the lame, the beggars, the orphans, the tormented, the widows and take their large offerings to church, to the man of God who already has a mansion and jets , what a shallow mindedness.”

People Life God Nature Church Weakness Self Worth Man Worth Widows Self Image Orphans Beggars Offerings Torments Mindedness

Book:Create Your Own Net Worth

Source: Create Your Own Net Worth

“I felt like I was failing at widowhood. I missed my husband, but no one knew that when they looked at me. They just saw a mom with blonde highlights going to yoga, picking up her daughter from school, buying groceries at Trader Joe’s. And now I was at a party with a date when I should have been home, grieving, all alone. I didn’t look like a widow. I wasn’t acting like a widow. But I felt like a widow. I guess I was just widowish.”

Loss Grief Healing Grieving Widows Widow

Book:Widowish: A Memoir

Source: Widowish: A Memoir

“I think first of the children. What the hell am I supposed to tell them? Then I think about money, the house, all those things no widow will tell you ever crossed her mind.”

Death Grief Grieving Death And Dying Husband And Wife Widows Death And Love Widowhood Widow

Book:Small Town Demons

Source: Small Town Demons

“Alone again, with the house quiet around her, she thought not of Joan in her hospital gown but of Henry, the IVs taped to the bruised crook of his arm, how he'd asked her to take care of Arlene and not give up on their daughter Margaret, demands that even now seemed unfair, if not impossible. What would she ask, and of whom--God? There was no one else left.”

Death Loss Widows Promises Survivorship Last Wishes

Book:Evensong

Source: Evensong

“A little while ago, I stood by the grave of the old Napoleon—a magnificent tomb of gilt and gold, fit almost for a dead deity—and gazed upon the sarcophagus of rare and nameless marble, where rest at last the ashes of that restless man. I leaned over the balustrade and thought about the career of the greatest soldier of the modern world. I saw him walking upon the banks of the Seine, contemplating suicide. I saw him at Toulon—I saw him putting down the mob in the streets of Paris—I saw him at the head of the army of Italy—I saw him crossing the bridge of Lodi with the tri-color in his hand—I saw him in Egypt in the shadows of the pyramids—I saw him conquer the Alps and mingle the eagles of France with the eagles of the crags. I saw him at Marengo—at Ulm and Austerlitz. I saw him in Russia, where the infantry of the snow and the cavalry of the wild blast scattered his legions like winter's withered leaves. I saw him at Leipsic in defeat and disaster—driven by a million bayonets back upon Paris—clutched like a wild beast—banished to Elba. I saw him escape and retake an empire by the force of his genius. I saw him upon the frightful field of Waterloo, where Chance and Fate combined to wreck the fortunes of their former king. And I saw him at St. Helena, with his hands crossed behind him, gazing out upon the sad and solemn sea. I thought of the orphans and widows he had made—of the tears that had been shed for his glory, and of the only woman who ever loved him, pushed from his heart by the cold hand of ambition. And I said I would rather have been a French peasant and worn wooden shoes. I would rather have lived in a hut with a vine growing over the door, and the grapes growing purple in the kisses of the autumn sun. I would rather have been that poor peasant with my loving wife by my side, knitting as the day died out of the sky—with my children upon my knees and their arms about me—I would rather have been that man and gone down to the tongueless silence of the dreamless dust, than to have been that imperial impersonation of force and murder, known as 'Napoleon the Great.”

Source: The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child

“WIDOW. The word consumes itself, said Sylvia Plath, who consumed herself.”

Death Loss Grief Mourning Widows Spouses

Book:Fates and Furies

Source: Fates and Furies

“No longer married, suddenly I was widowed. From Latin, the name means "emptied." Far worse; it felt like being torn in half, ripped apart from the single functioning organism that had been our family, our lives. Shattered, the word kept recurring; the whole pattern shattered, just as the mountain rocks had shattered his body.”

Death Relationships Loss Grief Mourning Widows Families

Book:Why Religion? A Personal Story

Source: Why Religion? A Personal Story

“The world is full of widows--several among my closer friends. We have each known that grim rite of passage, have engaged with grief and loss, and have not exactly emerged but found a way of living after and beyond. It is an entirely changed life, for anyone who has been in a long marriage--forty-one years, for me: alone in bed, alone most of the time, without that presence towards which you turned for advice, reassurance, with whom you shared the good news and the bad. Every decision now taken alone; no one to defuse anxieties. And a thoroughly commonplace experience--everywhere, always--so get on with it and don't behave as though you are uniquely afflicted. I didn't tell myself that at the time, and I doubt if it would have helped if I had, but it is what I have come--not so much to feel as to understand.”

Life Loss Grief Marriage Mourning Widows Self Pity Spouses Loss Of A Spouse

Book:Ammonites And Leaping Fish: A Life In Time

Source: Ammonites And Leaping Fish: A Life In Time

“Young widows are always a painful sight to see. Jilted brides are even more pitiful than young widows—at least widows had been loved and cherished.”

Painful Widows Loved Pitiful Cherished Angelica De Castella Y Aragon Jilted Brides

Book:Not A Book

Source: Not A Book

“As it turns out, the whole place was a purgatory for gray-haired widows and divorced men, content to eat frozen dinners and watch Deep Space Nine until they fell asleep alone and covered in potato chip crumbs.”

Widows Purgatory Potato Chips Star Trek Mid Life Crisis Deep Space Nine Divorced Men

Book:I Know I Am, But What Are You?

Source: I Know I Am, But What Are You?

“In frustration she sometimes asked him what he would do if she died first, to which he smugly replied, "You won't," as if it were a joke instead of her worst fear.”

Death Relationships Loss Widows Spouses Marriages Widowhood Widowers

Book:Evensong

Source: Evensong

“One of her duties as a widow, she had learned, was to provide dramatic proof to the neighboring wives that, bad as their husbands might be at times, life without them would be worse.”

Relationships Lessons Widows Marriages Wives Husbands

Book:While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction

Source: While Mortals Sleep: Unpublished Short Fiction

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Widows Quotes