50 Loss Quotes That Heal the Heart and Lessen the Grief

Dealing with loss and grief is difficult, but loss quotes can remind you that you're not alone, and offer some much-needed solace.

Loss is a natural part of life. When grief is fresh, you probably don’t even want to talk about it. But as the weeks and months go by, processing some aspects of your loss—by talking with loved ones, seeing a therapist, or simply reading loss quotes—might help you gain a new perspective and can offer some comfort.

Loss can take many forms. Maybe a loved one or pet has passed away and you’re in need of uplifting quotes or miss you quotes to get through the grief. Maybe you lost your job or home and could use some strength quotes and quotes about change to persevere. Or maybe your relationship has ended, and you’re reading love quotes and broken heart quotes just to get by. However loss appears in your life, there are “sorry for your loss” quotes to remind you that you’re not alone. And while none of the loss quotes can fix or change your situation, they may provide some healing.

Loss of a loved one quotes

Jk Rowling Things We Lose QuoteEmma Kumer/rd.com

1. “I’m learning there is no other side. There is no pushing through. But rather, there is absorption. Adjustment. Acceptance.” —”Grief” by Gwen Flowers

2. “Each day within me I fight a silent battle of surviving yet another day without you.” —Narin Grewal

3. “Grief does not change you … It reveals you.” —The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

4. “Loving you changed my life. It should come as no surprise that losing you has done the same.” —Chloë Frayne

5. “May there be comfort in knowing that someone so special will never be forgotten.” —Julie Hébert

Here are some more thoughtful condolence messages to show your love and support.

6. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments but what is woven into the lives of others.” —Pericles

7. “I wish you to know that you have been the last dream of my soul.” —A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

8. “I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.” The Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis by C.S. Lewis

9. “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

10. “Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.” —Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

RELATED: Spiritual Quotes That Will Lift Up Your Soul

Pet loss quotes

Eleanor Roosevelt Grief QuoteEmma Kumer/rd.com

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

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

13. “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends leave footprints in your heart.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

14. “Now you’re roaming endless fields, forever free to run. Listening to the song of the wind beneath the golden sun. Meet me at the rainbow when the time is right.” —Christy Ann Martine

15. “I bet you’re peacefully lying / upon an angel’s lap. / Purring there, without a care / having a heavenly nap. / I’ll miss you for a little while, / but our friendship will not end. / Time will pass, and then at last / you’ll be on my lap again.” —”Heavenly Nap” by Ron Tranmer

16. “The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man’s.” —Mark Twain

17. “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.” Simple times: Crafts for Poor People by Amy Sedaris

18. “Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love. They depart to teach us about loss. A new dog never replaces an old dog; it merely expands the heart.” —Erica Jong

19. “One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.” —Pope Francis

20. “Better than all of the gold in the world, better than diamonds, better than pearls, better than any material thing is the love of a dog and the joy that it brings.” —Laura Jaworski

RELATED: The Most Uplifting Quotes Ever

Sorry for your loss quotes

John F Kennedy Tied To The Ocean QuoteEmma Kumer/rd.com

21. “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea—whether it is to sail or to watch it—we are going back from whence we came.” —John F. Kennedy

22. “No matter how dark and gloomy it looks in your life right now, if you’ll release the weight of those burdens, you will rise higher and you will see the sun break forth in your life.” Become a Better You by Joel Osteen

23. “When it hurts—observe. Life is trying to teach you something.” —Anita Krizzan

24. “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.” —Socrates

25. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge.” —Psalm 91:4

26. “When the funds are low and the debts are high, / And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, / When care is pressing you down a bit, / Rest if you must, but don’t you quit.” “Keep Going” by Edgar A. Guest

27. “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams

28. “It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.” Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

29. “Life sometimes seems like nothing more than a series of losses, from beginning to end. That’s the given. How you respond to those losses … that’s the part you have to make up as you go.” The Music Lesson by Katharine Weber

30. “We are all the pieces of what we remember. We hold in ourselves the hopes and fears of those who love us. As long as there is love and memory, there is no true loss.” City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

RELATED: Strength Quotes That Will Give You Courage and Confidence

Sympathy quotes for loss

Elizabeth Edwards Stood In The Storm QuoteEmma Kumer/rd.com

31. “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

32. “She stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails.” —Elizabeth Edwards

33. “If I should go tomorrow / It would never be goodbye, / For I have left my heart with you, / So don’t you ever cry. / The love that’s deep within me / Shall reach you from the stars. / You’ll feel it from the heavens, / And it will heal the scars.” —”If I Should Go Tomorrow” by Anonymous

34. “I used to think that the worst thing in life was to end up alone. It’s not. The worst thing in life is ending up with people who make you feel all alone.” —Robin Williams in World’s Greatest Dad

35. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” —Psalm 23:4

36. “Cancer can change your body, and it can surely take your body away, but it can’t have your spirit.” Voices of Cancer by Linda Wolters

37. “You don’t have to be positive all the time. It’s perfectly OK to feel sad, angry, annoyed, frustrated, scared, and anxious. Having feelings doesn’t make you a negative person. It makes you human.” —Lori Deschene

38. “Money cannot buy health, but I’d settle for a diamond-studded wheelchair.” —Dorothy Parker

39. “Whenever I see an ambulance, I like to think there is a baby being born, rather than a death.” —Phil Lester

40. “Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.” —Emory Austin

RELATED: Quotes About Change That Will Make You Optimistic About the Future

Loss quotes about hopes and dreams

Winnie The Poooh Goodbye QuoteEmma Kumer/rd.com

41. “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne

42. “We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming—well, that’s like saying you can never change your fate.” The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan

43. “Feel what you need to feel and then let it go. Do not let it consume you.” —Dhiman

44. “Perhaps wisdom is … realizing how small I am, and unwise, and far I have yet to go.” —Anthony Bourdain

45. “Working at life is what matters most. What we do for a living is a component.” —Lynette Endicott

46. “There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it.” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald

47. “Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” —Epicurus

48. “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” —Anne Bradstreet

49. “In three words, I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: It goes on.” —Robert Frost

50. “Fairy tales are more than true: Not because they tell us that dragons exist but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.” Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Once you’ve finished these loss quotes, browse these Bible quotes for more encouragement.

Dianne Bright
Dianne is a full-time writer who loves to travel. She taught college language courses for three years before starting a family and contributing to a variety of parenting and lifestyle publications, covering the environment, books, spirituality and self-care, plants, cleaning and organization, pets, travel, beauty, nutrition, and finance. Her first adult-fiction paranormal novel came out in 2015, followed by two additional novels. Her book of parenting reflections came out in 2021.
Dianne loves literature and has led a community book club for four years; she has also been reviewing titles seasonally for a variety of publishers over the past decade. She is the founder of Green Idea Labs, a group of environmental influencers focused on sustainability and the reduction of single-use plastics. She lives in Southern California with her family and pets.