"Only the soul that knows the mighty grief can know the mighty rapture. 
Sorrows come to stretch out spaces in the heart for joy."
~ Edwin Markham (1852-1940)



"To weep is to make less the depth of grief."
~ William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 



"She was no longer wrestling with the grief, 
but could sit down with it as a lasting companion 
and make it a sharer in her thoughts."
~ George Eliot (1819-1880)



"I measure every Grief I meet With narrow, probing Eyes
 — I wonder if It weighs like Mine — Or has an Easier size."
~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)



"Can I see another's woe, And not be in sorrow too? 
Can I see another's grief, And not seek for kind relief?"
~ William Blake (1757-1827)



"If it were possible to heal sorrow by weeping and
 to raise the dead with tears, gold were less prized than grief."
~ Sophocles (496-406 BC)



"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value
 of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with."
~ Mark Twain (1835-1910)



"There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, 
that does not find relief in music."
~ George Eliot (1819-1880)



"Happiness is beneficial for the body, 
but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind."
~ Marcel Proust (1871-1922)



"Grief drives men to serious reflection, 
sharpens the understanding and softens the heart."
~ John Adams (1735-1826)



"There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief."
~ Aeschylus (525-456 BC)



"When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives
 mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, 
 instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen
 rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm 
 and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a 
 moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an 
 hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate now knowing, 
 not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our 
 powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."

~ Henri Nouwen
from Out of Solitude