’Tis better to have loved and lostThan never to have loved at all.
Sympathy cards
Sympathy card messages & quotes
Knowing what to write in a sympathy card is hard, and a short quote can say what your own words cannot. Every line here is under 45 words, so it fits inside a card with room left for a personal note. Some are about grief itself, some about memory, and some simply offer comfort, such as Louisa May Alcott's seven-word line about light behind the clouds. A few mention heaven or angels; most do not. All are public domain and copied word for word from the original book, with a link to check the source.
How to use these
- Write the quote, then one personal line: a memory or simply “Thinking of you.”
- Avoid heaven or angel lines unless you know the family's beliefs.
There is always light behind the clouds.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,All losses are restor’d and sorrows end.
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts.
If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.
Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;Thy fate is the common fate of all,Into each life some rain must fall,Some days must be dark and dreary.
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowThe Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1893 · The Rainy Day
Passage page · Read the full text
Passage page · Read the full text
Time isToo Slow for those who Wait,Too Swift for those who Fear,Too Long for those who Grieve,Too Short for those who Rejoice;But for those who Love,Time is not.
Let life be beautiful like summer flowers and death like autumn leaves.
Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again.
If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain;If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain,Or help one fainting robinUnto his nest again,I shall not live in vain.
Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of it down.
At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep.
Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,Missing me one place search another,I stop somewhere waiting for you.
I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.
Take him and cut him out in little stars,And he will make the face of heaven so fineThat all the world will be in love with night,And pay no worship to the garish sun.
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