85 Sad Quotes for Any Occasion
Sad quotes and proverbs can help you deal with your sorrows or give others strength in hard times. They speak of life, love and death, give comfort and show that you’re not alone. That’s why we have collected sad quotes and sayings for you in this article.
Sad quotes are often general and can help with all kinds of sorrow. They are about sadness itself and how to handle it. Sometimes life just isn’t fair, and you can’t be in a good mood every day.
Sad Sayings that Touch the Heart
In times of depression, sad sayings can comfort you in terms of depression, misfortune, relationship breakdowns, death, or when you’ve been hurt. Telling someone about your sadness or addressing it publicly can work wonders.
Some people can deal with their sadness themselves, while others need help. It’s always a good idea to confide in someone. You never know when the time might come that you want some help, and you’ll be glad you said something.
Sad Quotes about Death
Every person will one day find themselves in the situation of having to say goodbye to a loved one. If you are writing a message of condolence, think about what you would want to hear in this situation.
- To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.
(Thomas Campbell, Scottish poet, 1777-1844) - Those who pass by us, do not go alone, and do not leave us alone; they leave a bit of themselves, and take a little of us.
(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer and pilot, 1900-1944) - Unable are the loved to die. For love is immortality.
(Emily Dickinson, American poet, 1830-1886) - I believe that when death closes our eyes we shall awaken to a light, of which our sunlight is but the shadow.
(Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher, 1788-1860) - Love, I thought, is stronger than death or the fear of death. Only by it, by love, life holds together and advances.
(Ivan Turgenev, Russian writer, 1818-1883) - Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.
(George Eliot, English writer, 1819-1880) - It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.
(Samuel Johnson, English poet, 1709-1784) - Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace.
(Oscar Wilde, Irish poet, 1854-1900) - Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.
(Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet, 1861-1941) - Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.
(Unknown, from an Irish headstone) - Thou know’st ‘tis common: all that lives must die. Passing through nature to eternity”
(William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616) - Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.
(Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish writer, 1850-1894)
Death is a sensitive subject, and everyone grieves differently. Many people find it difficult to write a compassionate condolence message or sympathy card.
Quotes can help give strength to the person who is grieving. Make sure that the person who will receive your message will be able to identify with the farewell quote or proverb.
Sad Love Quotes
Sad sayings about love can help you deal with heartache and the sadness that comes when a relationship ends. They are the opposite of the usual love quotes and proverbs that you might use to prove your love.
Heartache can be triggered by arguments, jealousy or unrequited longing. Sad quotes or sayings can be especially helpful when you and your partner can’t communicate effectively, or when you are upset with each other. They can express the feelings that you might not be able to put into words yourself.
- ‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
(Alfred Lord Tennyson, British poet, 1809-1892) - I think you are wrong to want a heart. It makes most people unhappy. If you only knew it, you are in luck not to have a heart.
(L. Frank Baum, American writer, 1856-1919) - To err is human, to forgive divine.
(Alexander Pope, English poet, 1688-1744) - Some things break your heart but fix your vision.
(Unknown) - Hearts are not had as a gift but hearts are earned.
(William Butler Yeats, Irish poet, 1865-1939) - He is not a lover who does not love forever.
(Euripides, Greek poet, 480-406 B.C.) - Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
(Khalil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, philosopher and painter, 1883-1931) - Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.
(Zelda Fitzgerald, American novelist, 1900-1948) - It is sad not to love, but it is much sadder not to be able to love.
(Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer, 1864-1936) - To be forgotten by the one to whom you never forget is the worst thing ever happens.
(Unknown) - The course of true love did never run smooth.
(William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616)
In a long-distance relationship, it’s easy to worry that you are drifting apart or that your partner isn’t being honest with you. You miss them, and there’s nothing you can do about it. These fears can lead to sadness, disappointment, and sometimes even jealousy.
Even if you are not in a long-distance relationship, it’s normal to argue now and then. Sad quotes and sayings can help you reconcile and leave your troubles in the past.
Sad Quotes about Life
There are lots of words of wisdom and sad sayings about life. Sad sayings and quotes show the dark side of life and discuss the pain and sadness that can affect anyone.
However, they often also suggest ways you can overcome your sorrows and contrast the bad sides with the good. They promise that things can get better and show that sadness is a completely normal feeling that can overwhelm anyone.
We have collected the most beautiful sad quotes and sayings about life here. They offer sympathy and give strength.
- Man is unhappy because he doesn’t know he’s happy.
(Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, 1821-1881) - Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.
(Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter and graphic artist, 1853-1890) - Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.
(Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher, 1788-1860) - Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be driven.
(Jean Paul, German writer, 1763-1825) - Sorrows remembered sweeten present joy.
(Robert Pollok, Scottish poet, 1798-1827) - “Be strong now because things will get better. It might be stormy now, but it can’t rain forever.”
(Unknown) - Sometimes it takes sadness to know happiness, noise to appreciate silence and absence to value presence.
(Unknown) - Never apologize for showing feeling, my friend. Remember that when you do so, you apologize for truth.
(Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman, 1804-1881) - Shed no tear! O shed no tear!
The flower will bloom another year.
(John Keats, british poet 1795-1821) - Nobody understands another’s sorrow, and nobody another’s joy.
(Franz Schubert, Austrian composer, 1797-1828)
There are many wise sayings about love and sorrow, because they are among the strongest emotions that have moved us since the beginning of mankind. They offer strategies for coming to terms with sadness that have developed over a long time and continue to help people recover from their sorrows.
Here you will find beautiful quotes about life.
Sad Quotes about Pain
All people experience pain sometimes, and it’s never easy to handle. Whether your pain is physical or emotional, it can be very difficult to accept your situation and find the strength to fight through it.
Our sad quotes about pain can help you find new strength. Some of these sad quotes talk about how our pain can teach us to appreciate the good side of life, while others are about how we hide our pain from others. If you can relate to them, they will show you that you are not alone, as many famous people have spoken about the pain they have suffered.
- We need to suffer, that we may learn to pity.
(Letitia Elizabeth Landon, British poet, 1802-1838) - A hundred “no’s” are less painful than one insincere “yes”.
(Chinese proverb) - The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us, but those who win battles we know nothing about.
(Unknown) - Pain pays the income of each precious thing
(William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616) - Pain is the great teacher of mankind. Beneath its breath souls develop.
(Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Moravian-Austrian writer, 1830-1916) - Some people think that to be strong is to never feel pain. In reality, the strongest people are the ones who feel it, understand it, and accept it.
(Unknown) - Pain and pleasure, like light and darkness, succeed each other.
(Laurence Sterne, Irish novelist, 1713-1768) - There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.
(Aeschylus, Greek poet, 525-456 B.C.) - Usually, people think that I’m a strong, happy person. But behind my smiles they just don’t know how much I’m in pain and almost broken.
(Unknown) - Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
(Unknown) - With some pain is fraught; Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.
(Percy Bysshe Shelley, British writer, 1792-1822)
Sad Quotes that Make You Cry
In this section you will find sad quotes to touch your heart and make you cry. They are honest and describe sadness just as it is. Perhaps they will help you or show your loved one that you can understand their pain in a sad situation.
- When sorrows come, they come not single spies,
But in battalions.
(William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616) - There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and have recovered hope.
(George Eliot, English writer, 1819-1880) - Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.
(Leonardo da Vinci, Italian polymath and artist, 1452-1519) - Hope is the rainbow over the cascading creek of life.
(Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, 1844-1900) - Memories that touch our hearts are never lost.
(Unknown) - The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
(Khalil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, philosopher and painter, 1883-1931) - There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.
(Washington Irving, American short-story writer, 1783-1859) - A million words would not bring you back, I know because I tried, neither would a million tears, I know because I cried.
(Unknown) - It will never rain roses: when we want to have more roses, we must plant more roses.
(George Eliot) - Better by far you should forget and smile. Than that you should remember and be sad.
(Christina Rosetti, British poet, 1830-1894)
Sad Breakup Quotes about a Broken Heart
After a breakup or when taking a break from a relationship, people can often feel cynical about love. Some are glad that the relationship is over, while others feel angry, disappointed, hurt or sad.
There are lots of quotes that can help you or someone else work through your sadness after a breakup.
- Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it’s better to leave them broken than to hurt yourself putting it back together.
(Unknown) - For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, 'It might have been.’
(John Greenleaf Whittier, American poet, 1807-1892) - Hearts are made to be broken.
(Oscar Wilde, Irish poet, 1854-1900) - The broken heart. You think you will die, but you keep living, day after day after terrible day.
(Charles Dickens, English writer, 1812-1870) - I gave you my heart, I just didn’t expect to get it back in pieces.
(Unknown) - I am two fools, I know,
For loving, and for saying so.
(John Donne, English writer and poet, 1572-1631) - It takes one word to make a person cry, but 1000 words to dry their tears again.
(Unknown) - We walked to meet each other up at the time of our love and then we have been irresistibly drifting in different directions, and there’s no altering that.
(Leo Tolstoy, Russian novelist, 1828-1910) - I have not broken your heart – you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.
(Emily Brontë, English novelist, 1818-1848) - You don’t die from a broken heart. You only wish you did.
(Unknown) - Some people think that it’s holding on that makes one strong; sometimes it’s letting go.
(Unknown)
Sometimes you just don’t know what to do with all of your emotions. Quotes and sayings can capture those emotions, and there are quotes for every kind of feeling. They can make you feel strong again or validate your beliefs about love. They can also help you to let go and move on.
Sad Quotes on Hurt and Healing
When you have been hurt, sometimes you can’t believe that you will ever be happy again. You feel betrayed, upset and angry, and these difficult emotions make it hard to enjoy life.
But in the end, it is possible to heal from your hurt. With hard work and lots of thinking, you can learn to let go of the past and move forward with a new attitude to life.
Our sad quotes on hurt and healing show how you can learn from your hurt and find the positives in life again. If a friend or loved one has been hurt, maybe you can help them work through their pain with one of these thoughtful quotes.
- Accept suffering and achieve atonement through it — that is what you must do.
(Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, 1821-1881) - Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.
(Henry David Thoreau, American philosopher, 1817-1862) - What do you do when the only one who can make you stop crying is the one who made you cry?
(Unknown) - Just because you are sad, it doesn’t mean that you are not strong or loved. Know that you are.
(Unknown) - The wound is the place where the light enters you
(Rumi, Persian Sufi mystic, 1207-1273) - We are healed of a suffering only by experiencing it to the full.
(Marcel Proust, French author, 1871-1922) - No one heals himself by wounding another.
(St. Ambrose, Roman politican, 339-397 n. Chr.) - It’s when we start working together that the real healing takes place.
(David Hume, Scottish philosopher, 1711-1776) - When I stand before thee at the day’s end, thou shalt see my scars and know that I had my wounds and also my healing.
(Rabindranath Tagore, Indian poet, 1861-1941) - Some people cannot be cured, but everyone can heal.
(Unknown)
Short Sad Quotes
Sometimes you don’t need many words to talk about your sadness. Many famous people and writers wrote short but emotional words that are just as effective as long texts for expressing your feelings. These short sad quotes are easy to remember; by keeping them in your mind, they can bring you strength when you are feeling low.
If you want to work through your feelings by expressing them to others, these short sad quotes work well as a WhatsApp message or social media post.
- The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on Earth.
(Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, 1821-1881) - You live twice: once in reality, the second time, in memories.
(Honoré de Balzac, French novelist, 1799-1850) - Before Alice got to Wonderland, she had to fall.
(Unknown) - Those who do not weep, do not see.
(Victor Hugo, French author, 1802-1885) - Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
(Jean De La Fontaine, French writer, 1621-1695) - Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher, 1803-1882) - Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
(Khalil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, philosopher and painter, 1883-1931) - There is no sadder sight than a young pessimist.
(Mark Twain, U.S. writer, 1835-1910) - The healthy man has many wishes, the sick man only one.
(Indian proverb)
Deep Sad Quotes
Famous writers and intellectuals used their talents to talk about deep emotions. Many of their sad quotes are beautiful and thought-provoking. They contrast deep sadness with the happiness that we feel at other times in life, and wonder if one is possible without the other.
Take some time to ponder the meaning of these deep sad quotes. Think about how they make you feel, and the messages they send. They might give you a new perspective on sadness, or help you to break out of a cycle of negative thoughts.
- Give sorrow words: the grief that does not speak whispers the o’er-fraught heart, and bids it break.
(William Shakespeare, English playwright, 1564-1616) - You don’t need someone to complete you. You only need someone who accepts you completely.
(Unknown) - Nothing can cure the soul but the senses, just as nothing can cure the senses but the soul.
(Oscar Wilde, Irish poet, 1854-1900) - The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.
(Saadi, Persian poet, c. 1210-1292) - Let us remember that sorrow alone is the creator of great things.
(Ernest Renan, French writer, 1823-1892) - It is sadder to find the past again and find it inadequate to the present than it is to have it elude you and remain forever a harmonious conception of memory.
(F. Scott Fitzgerald, American novelist, 1896-1940) - Sometimes you’ve got to be able to listen to yourself and be okay with no one else understanding.
(Unknown) - If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each one’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all our hostility.
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet, 1807-1882) - Joy’s recollection is no longer joy, while Sorrow’s memory is a sorrow still.
(Lord Byron, British poet, 1788-1824)
Here you will find more deep quotes for any occasion.
How Sad Quotes Help to Cope with Grief and Sadness
Everyone deals with grief and sadness differently and for many, it helps to put their sadness into words. This helps them to work through their pain.
Sadness can be acted out in different ways. Some people avoid the outside world, while others show their sadness openly and let others know how bad they are feeling. The fact that there are so many sad quotes, by so many people who were experiencing sorrows, shows that you are not alone.
You can send sad quotes for different reasons or use them as a WhatsApp status if it helps you to process your grief.
By sending sad quotes and sayings you can also help other people deal with their sadness. They work well as comforting words, words to make you ponder, or for when you just want to wallow in your melancholy feelings.