And I felt like my heart had been so thoroughly and irreparably broken that there could be no real joy again.… Everyone wanted me to get help and rejoin life, pick up the pieces and move on, and I tried to, I wanted to, but I just had to lie in the mud with my arms wrapped around myself, eyes closed, grieving, until I didn’t have to anymore.
—Anne Lamott
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
—Kahlil Gibran
No matter what anybody says about grief, and about time healing all wounds, the truth is, there are certain sorrows that never fade away until the heart stops beating and the last breath is taken.
—Tiffanie DeBartolo in God-Shaped Hole
In the autumn I gathered all my sorrows and buried them in my garden. And when April returned and spring came to wed the earth, there grew in my garden beautiful flowers unlike all other flowers. And my neighbors came to behold them, and they all said to me, "When autumn comes again, at seeding time, will you not give us of the seeds of these flowers that we may have them in our gardens?"
—Kahlil Gibran
My mother thought it would make us feel better to know that animals had no souls, and thus their deaths were not to be taken seriously. But it didn't help, and when I think of some of the animals I have known, I wonder. The only really "soulful" eyes in the world belong to the dog or cat who sits on your lap or at your feet, commiserating when you cry.
—Liz Smith
Slaves sing most when they are most unhappy. The songs of the slave represent the sorrows of his heart, and he is relieved by them, only as an aching heart is relieved by its tears.
—Frederick Douglass
In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
—H. L. Mencken
The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.
—Saadi
Sorrow has its reward. It never leaves us where it found us.
—Mary Baker Eddy
It's strange that I could have laughed so hard under those circumstances, during that very dark moment in my life. But I've decided sorrow can make things funnier. Endure enough hardship, and you start really needing a good laugh.
—Katherine Center in How to Walk Away
Partying is such sweet sorrow.
—Robert Byrne