Culture and Lifestyle Quotes and Sayings 37 Sad Quotes That Will Get You Through the Worst Days They just get it. By Kaitlyn Yarborough Kaitlyn Yarborough Part of the Southern Living team since 2017, Kaitlyn Yarborough is a Georgia native living in Austin, Texas, who covers a wide variety of topics for both the magazine and website, focusing on culture and lifestyle content, as well as travel in the South. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on January 20, 2023 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Ben Roberts Photography/Getty Images Sadness—never, ever, something that we actively summon or wish to feel—manages to find its way to us every now and then. It's a natural part of life. But sometimes it helps to know that others are going (or have been) through the same thing. Because that means that things will get better, start looking up. If you're experiencing tough times or dealing with loss, this list of sad quotes will, oddly enough, provide some comfort and comradery. And if you're on the verge of just needing a good cry, these emotional quotes will happily help release an onslaught of soul-cleansing tears. Some were penned by your favorite Southern authors; others were said by important historic figures. But all have one thing in common: They just get it. Keep reading for 37 sad quotes that'll help you get through a bad day, crappy month, or terrible year. Sad Quotes about Life 01 of 37 Nicholas Sparks "There are moments when I wish I could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but I have the feeling that if I did, the joy would be gone as well." –Nicholas Sparks 02 of 37 Margaret Mitchell "Life's under no obligation to give us what we expect." –Margaret Mitchell 03 of 37 F. Scott Fitzgerald "You see, I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me." –F. Scott Fitzgerald 04 of 37 Mark Twain "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." –Mark Twain 05 of 37 Stephen Chbosky "Things change. And friends leave. And life doesn't stop for anybody." –Stephen Chbosky 06 of 37 Truman Capote "Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act." –Truman Capote 07 of 37 C.S. Lewis "I have learned now that while those who speak about one's miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more." –C.S. Lewis 08 of 37 Eudora Welty "The excursion is the same when you go looking for your sorrow as when you go looking for your joy." –Eudora Welty 09 of 37 J.D. Salinger "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody." –J.D. Salinger Sad Quotes about Death 10 of 37 E.A. Bucchianeri "So it's true, when all is said and done, grief is the price we pay for love." –E.A. Bucchianeri 11 of 37 John Irving "What is hardest to accept about the passage of time is that the people who once mattered the most to us wind up in parentheses." –John Irving 12 of 37 George Eliot "Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them." –George Eliot 13 of 37 Harriet Beecher Stowe "The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." –Harriet Beecher Stowe 14 of 37 J.K. Rowling "It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more." –J.K. Rowling 15 of 37 Henry Rollins "It's sad when someone you know becomes someone you knew." –Henry Rollins 16 of 37 Tennessee Williams "There is a time for departure, even when there's no certain place to go." –Tennessee Williams 17 of 37 C.C Aurel "You meet everyone twice in this life, when they come and when they go." –C.C Aurel 18 of 37 Veronica Roth "Grief is not as heavy as guilt, but it takes more away from you." –Veronica Roth 19 of 37 E.H. Chapin "Death is a great revealer of what is in a man, and in its solemn shadow appear the naked lineaments of the soul." –E.H. Chapin 20 of 37 Henry Ward Beecher "Death is the dropping of the flower that the fruit may swell." –Henry Ward Beecher Sad Love Quotes 21 of 37 Fannie Flagg "You know, a heart can be broken, but it keeps on beating, just the same." –Fannie Flagg 22 of 37 Ella Harper "It's amazing how someone can break your heart, and you can still love them with all the little pieces." –Ella Harper 23 of 37 Steve Maraboli "There is a distinct, awful pain that comes with loving someone more than they love you." –Steve Maraboli 24 of 37 J.K. Rowling "To have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever." –J.K. Rowling 25 of 37 Jodi Picoult "If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled?" –Jodi Picoult 26 of 37 Ayushee Ghoshal "You make me feel like a firefly. Trapped in a belljar; starved for love." –Ayushee Ghoshal 27 of 37 Maggie Stiefvater "You're like a song that I heard when I was a little kid but forgot I knew until I heard it again." –Maggie Stiefvater 28 of 37 Dante Aligheri "There is no greater sorrow than to recall, in misery, the time when we were happy." –Dante AligherI Sad Sayings 29 of 37 Ernest J. Gaines "Sometimes you got to hurt something to help something. Sometimes you have to plow under one thing in order for something else to grow." –Ernest J. Gaines 30 of 37 Joshua Wisenbaker "Tears are words the mouth can't say nor can the heart bear." –Joshua Wisenbaker 31 of 37 Kurt Vonnegut "Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, 'It might have been.'" –Kurt Vonnegut 32 of 37 Fannie Flagg "Being a successful person is not necessarily defined by what you have achieved, but by what you have overcome." –Fannie Flagg 33 of 37 Dorothy Thompson "To have felt too much is to end in feeling nothing." –Dorothy Thompson 34 of 37 John Lennon "One thing you can't hide is when you're crippled inside." –John Lennon 35 of 37 Zora Neale Hurston "There are years that ask questions and years that answer." –Zora Neale Hurston 36 of 37 Christopher Morley "Heavy hearts, like heavy clouds in the sky, are best relieved by the letting of a little water." –Christopher Morley 37 of 37 Leonardo da Vinci "Tears come from the heart and not from the brain." –Leonardo da Vinci WATCH: 10 Romantic Messages for Your Loved Ones If you're like us, you don't always know how to express your feelings to those you love. These romantic messages are here to help. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit