September 11, 2009 marks the eighth anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of many.

Here are some comforting quotes said by various in the past on how to overcome grief and sufferring and the meaning of the sufferring.

Not a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows.
-Charles Reade

I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared their love.
-Leo Buscaglia

Whatever it is that I have lost (or must give up) I must grieve. If I do not do my grieving about the old hurts and insults, then, when I am faced with a here and now grief experience, I will end up having to dredge up all that old energy along with the current experience.

-Elaine Childs-Gowell

Not a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows.

-Charles Reade

Everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes.

-R.E.M.

Loss is a byproduct of living.

-Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS


Suffering is not an elective; it is a core course in the University of Life.

-Steven J. Lawson

Pain is only bearable if we know it will end, not if we deny it exists.

-Viktor Frankl

Pain is the most individualized thing on earth.
It is true that it is the great common bond as well,
but that realization only comes when it is over.
To suffer is to be alone.
To watch another suffer is to know the barrier that shuts each of us away by himself
Only individuals can suffer.

-Edith Hamilton


When pain is to borne, a little courage helps more than much knowledge, a little human sympathy more than much courage, and the least tincture of the love of God more than all.

-C. S. Lewis


The pain of the world will sear and break our hearts because we can no longer keep them closed. We've seen too much now. To some degree or other, we have surrendered into service and are willing to pay the price of compassion.

But with it comes the joy of a single, caring act. With it comes the honor of participating in a generous process in which one rises each day and does what one can. With it comes the simple, singular grace of being an instrument of Love, in whatever form, to whatever end.

-Ram Dass


Suffering breaks our world. Like a tree struck by lightning-splintered, shaken, denuded-our world is broken by suffering, and we will never be the same again.

- Nathan Kollar

I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone
suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and a willingness to remain
vulnerable.

-Anne Morrow Lindbergh


The most difficult thing of all-yet the most essential-is to love life, even when you suffer, because life is all.

-Leo Tolstoy

Sorrows come to stretch out spaces in the heart---for joy.

-Edwin Markham


The world is full of suffering; it is also full of the overcoming of it.

-Helen Keller

How easy it is to mourn when I see tearing down, to fail to see that that is part of building. It cannot, or should not, be separated from building up. For without the tearing down of twigs, there would be no building of nests.

-Jane Grayshon

People in mourning have to come to grips with death before they can live again.
Mourning can go on for years and years.
It doesn't end after a year, that's a false fantasy.
It usually ends when people realize that they can live again,
that they can concentrate their energies on their lives as a whole,
and not on their hurt, and guilt and pain.

-Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

Those who grieve find comfort in weeping and in arousing their sorrow
until the body is too tired to bear the inner emotions.

-Maimonides

Adversity often produces an unexpected opportunity. Look for it ! Appreciate and utilize it! This is difficult to do if
you're feeling sorry for yourself because you're faced with adversity.

-John Wooden

Adversity often activates a strength we did not know we had.

-Joan Walsh Anglund

To find a safe journey through grief to growth does not mean one should forget the past. It means that on the journey we will need safe pathways so that remembrance, which may be painful, is possible.

-Donna O'Toole

You need to face the pain and the fear and walk through the Grief.

- Dr. Phil McGraw


The path to healing from a loss is different for each person, one which may have many unexpected twists and turns,
but a road that has been traveled by many.

-Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS


Grief is a journey, often perilous and without clear direction, that must be taken. The experience of grieving cannot be ordered or categorized, hurried or controlled, pushed aside or ignored indefinitely. It is inevitable as breathing, as change, as love. It may be postponed, but it will not be denied.

-Molly Fumia

To find a safe journey through grief to growth does not mean one should forget the past. It means that on the journey we will need safe pathways so that remembrance, which may be painful, is possible.

-Donna O'Toole

You need to face the pain and the fear and walk through the Grief.

- Dr. Phil McGraw


The path to healing from a loss is different for each person, one which may have many unexpected twists and turns, but a road that has been traveled by many.

-Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS


Grief is a journey, often perilous and without clear direction, that must be taken. The experience of grieving cannot be ordered or categorized, hurried or controlled, pushed aside or ignored indefinitely. It is inevitable as breathing, as change, as love. It may be postponed, but it will not be denied.

-Molly Fumia

Grief is a powerful, universal feeling, but it is survivable.

-Kirsti A. Dyer, MD, MS

Great joys make us love the world. Great sadnesses make us understand the world.

-Kent Nerburn

All I know from my own experience is that the more loss we feel the more grateful we should be for whatever it was we had to lose. It means that we had something worth grieving for. The ones I'm sorry for are the ones that go through life not knowing what grief is.

-Frank O'Connor

I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories. We find comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared their love.

-Leo Buscaglia

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