--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly…" description: "\"“Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly, caught in the throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe.”\" — Jesmyn Ward" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2da/jesmyn-ward-1426_grief_sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-cau_1040210.png" --- # Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly, caught in the… ![“Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly, caught in the throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe.” quote by Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2da/jesmyn-ward-1426_grief_sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-cau_1040210.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2da/jesmyn-ward-1426_grief_sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-cau_1040210.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2da/jesmyn-ward-1426_grief_sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-cau_1040210.png) > ““Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly, caught in the throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe.”” [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Sorrow can be overwhelming, choking the ability to breathe and act. **In simple terms:** Grief feels like a choking sensation. Key Takeaway Allow space to process grief slowly. Themes grief emotional overwhelm mental health Mood somber introspective Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - therapy - personal loss - health crises Key Concepts psychosomatic response trauma healing Questions to Reflect On - How does your body react when you are deeply sad? - What practices help you breathe through sorrow? A Different Perspective Grief may also inspire growth; not only suffocation. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Mourning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mourning/) [Pain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pain/) [Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow/) ## Related quotes > [“Her breath caught in her throat, for she heard the clatter of death waiting to fall.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-danley/her-breath-caught-in-her-throat-for-she-heard-the-clatter-of-death/) [Kate Danley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-danley/) > [“Sara started choking. I turned toward her convulsions. "Sorry, " she whispered, her face bright red. "Some bullshit caught in my throat.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-donovan/sara-started-choking-i-turned-toward-her-convulsions-sorry-she/) [Rebecca Donovan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-donovan/) > [Words that come from the heart are never spoken, they get caught in the throat and can only be read in ones's eyes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jos-saramago/words-that-come-from-the-heart-are-never-spoken-they-get-caught-in/) [Jose Saramago](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jos-saramago/) > [“I can't lose you," he whispered. "The thought of you getting hurt, or worse..." His voice caught in his throat. He took a deep…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mireille-chester/i-can-t-lose-you-he-whispered-the-thought-of-you-getting-hurt-or/) [Mireille Chester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mireille-chester/) > [“My breath caught in my throat. Buttered biscuits and honey. "You're not what I expected.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/myra-mcentire/my-breath-caught-in-my-throat-buttered-biscuits-and-honey-you-re-not/) [Myra McEntire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/myra-mcentire/) > [“The mouthful of turkey sandwich I’d bitten off caught in my throat when Ren rested his hand on my leg, his fingers exploring the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrea-cremer/the-mouthful-of-turkey-sandwich-i-d-bitten-off-caught-in-my-throat/) [Andrea Cremer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrea-cremer/) > [“spills of mire I swallowed inside the tower”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-celan/spills-of-mire-i-swallowed-inside-the-tower/) [Paul Celan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-celan/) > [“Zoe swallowed, wishing she hadn’t started the list on her”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tanya-anne-crosby/zoe-swallowed-wishing-she-hadn-t-started-the-list-on-her/) [Tanya Anne Crosby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tanya-anne-crosby/) > [“How will you feel when you're being swallowed up?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michel-schneider/how-will-you-feel-when-you-re-being-swallowed-up/) michel schneider > [“Anna swallowed and pulled out a chair. She sat and folded her hands on her lap. She felt like she was in trouble. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-charlins/anna-swallowed-and-pulled-out-a-chair-she-sat-and-folded-her-hands-on/) [Claire Charlins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-charlins/) > [“Here, I meant to put you at your ease but instead I've got you closed up against me again like a pretty little clam."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tracy-anne-warren/here-i-meant-to-put-you-at-your-ease-but-instead-i-ve-got-you-closed/) [Tracy Anne Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tracy-anne-warren/) > [“You get everything you need?” She squealed like an idiot and whirled around to see him smirking at her. “JeSUS!” She glared at him…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samantha-young/you-get-everything-you-need-she-squealed-like-an-idiot-and-whirled/) [Samantha Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samantha-young/) > [I've been told I looked like I swallowed an elephant or a pig, whichever was more fitting that day.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katelyn-ohashi/i-ve-been-told-i-looked-like-i-swallowed-an-elephant-or-a-pig/) [Katelyn Ohashi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katelyn-ohashi/) > [Is it true? You had a clean getaway and risked it all for me?" I Swallowed. "It wouldn't have been a clean getaway without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richelle-mead/is-it-true-you-had-a-clean-getaway-and-risked-it-all-for-me-i/) [Richelle Mead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richelle-mead/) > [“For a long time before I met you, I felt my life was this kind of test. I was in deep, cold water, swimming…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leah-raeder/for-a-long-time-before-i-met-you-i-felt-my-life-was-this-kind-of-test/) [Leah Raeder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leah-raeder/) ## More by Jesmyn Ward > [I wanted to write about voodoo tradition that I feel has been very important to survival of black people here: people of the African…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/i-wanted-to-write-about-voodoo-tradition-that-i-feel-has-been-very/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [I think that voodoo as a spiritual tradition has been demonized for so long in popular culture. I wanted to write against that and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/i-think-that-voodoo-as-a-spiritual-tradition-has-been-demonized-for/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [There's so much I love about home, but then there's a lot that I can acknowledge that I dislike about home. And acknowledging that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/there-s-so-much-i-love-about-home-but-then-there-s-a-lot-that-i-can/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [“The dream of her was the glow of a spent fire on a cold night: warm and welcoming.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/the-dream-of-her-was-the-glow-of-a-spent-fire-on-a-cold-night-warm/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [The first writer that I think of immediately that I studied with at Michigan is Peter Ho Davies. He was really important to me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/the-first-writer-that-i-think-of-immediately-that-i-studied-with-at/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [I feel like so much of what happened in the Delta over the decades since slavery was abolished seems much closer in the Delta,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/i-feel-like-so-much-of-what-happened-in-the-delta-over-the-decades/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [“Vines catch my arms, my head; we tear through until we break out into the clearing before the fence, the field, the barn, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/vines-catch-my-arms-my-head-we-tear-through-until-we-break-out-into/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [“Before all the little mean things she told me gathered and gathered and lodged like grit in a skinned knee.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/before-all-the-little-mean-things-she-told-me-gathered-and-gathered/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [People give the South a bad rap. It's often stereotyped as backwards and close-minded and dogmatic, and all of those things have been true.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/people-give-the-south-a-bad-rap-it-s-often-stereotyped-as-backwards/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [By the time I wrote my memoir, 'Men We Reaped,' I had been running from writing it for a long time. When the events…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/by-the-time-i-wrote-my-memoir-men-we-reaped-i-had-been-running-from/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [When I was a teenager, I was the only black girl at a small, private Episcopal school, where my tuition was paid by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/when-i-was-a-teenager-i-was-the-only-black-girl-at-a-small-private/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [She was the murderous mother who cut us to the bone but left us alive, left us naked and bewildered as wrinkled newborn babies,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/she-was-the-murderous-mother-who-cut-us-to-the-bone-but-left-us-alive/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [I hope people who read my books feel empathy for us and really see us as complicated people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/i-hope-people-who-read-my-books-feel-empathy-for-us-and-really-see-us/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [When I was writing my first novel, 'Where the Line Bleeds,' which had young black men as its main characters, I was very invested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/when-i-was-writing-my-first-novel-where-the-line-bleeds-which-had/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) > [“Lot of folks was in there for stealing food because everybody was poor and starving, and even though White people couldn’t get your work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/lot-of-folks-was-in-there-for-stealing-food-because-everybody-was/) [Jesmyn Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) [Explore all 242 Jesmyn Ward quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/) ## More Grief quotes > [“...they had lived, they'd lived intensely. But no matter how deeply you live, it comes to this in the end: one of you will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-morton/they-had-lived-they-d-lived-intensely-but-no-matter-how-deeply-you/) [Brian Morton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brian-morton/) > [“You must understand the pain and grief of losing someone is nothing more than a function of survival.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-cooper/you-must-understand-the-pain-and-grief-of-losing-someone-is-nothing/) [Steven Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-cooper/) > [You felt a deep sorrow, the kind of melancholy you feel when you're in a beautiful place and the sun is going down](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thrity-umrigar/you-felt-a-deep-sorrow-the-kind-of-melancholy-you-feel-when-you-re-in/) [Thrity Umrigar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thrity-umrigar/) > [... how much of our inner substance is it good for us to give to public griefs? The whole modern tendency to agonize over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louise-bogan/how-much-of-our-inner-substance-is-it-good-for-us-to-give-to-public/) [Louise Bogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louise-bogan/) > [You dont choose your life; it chooses you. Theres no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/you-dont-choose-your-life-it-chooses-you-theres-no-point-asking-why/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [“When we learn to attribute meaning to the events in our lives, we connect with our Higher Purpose, Higher Wisdom, or Source; we become…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-barbara-apollon/when-we-learn-to-attribute-meaning-to-the-events-in-our-lives-we/) [Susan Barbara Apollon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-barbara-apollon/) > [Only to have a grief equal to all these tears!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/only-to-have-a-grief-equal-to-all-these-tears/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [Nowadays most people wear black most of the time anyway: go to a literary party and one would imagine everyone there was in perpetual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fay-weldon/nowadays-most-people-wear-black-most-of-the-time-anyway-go-to-a/) [Fay Weldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fay-weldon/) > [Suppressed grief suffocates, it rages within the breast, and is forced to multiply its strength.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ovid/suppressed-grief-suffocates-it-rages-within-the-breast-and-is-forced/) [Ovid](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ovid/) > [That Woman is in love with her own grief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/that-woman-is-in-love-with-her-own-grief/) [Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/) > [Short time seems long in sorrow's sharp sustaining.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/short-time-seems-long-in-sorrow-s-sharp-sustaining/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [These days grief seems like walking on a frozen river; most of the time he feels safe enough, but there is always that danger…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-nicholls/these-days-grief-seems-like-walking-on-a-frozen-river-most-of-the/) [David Nicholls](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-nicholls/) > [“You've been my beacon of light in my storm of grief, and I don't know if I could live without you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katie-ashley/you-ve-been-my-beacon-of-light-in-my-storm-of-grief-and-i-don-t-know/) [Katie Ashley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katie-ashley/) > [Ancient eyes had stared at me, filled with ancient grief. And something more. Something so alien and unexpected that I'd almost burst into tears.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-marie-moning/ancient-eyes-had-stared-at-me-filled-with-ancient-grief-and-something/) [Karen Marie Moning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-marie-moning/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) [Browse all 8,012 Grief quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly, caught in the throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jesmyn Ward" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-caught-in-the-throat-making-it/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Grief" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-caught-in-the-throat-making-it/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2da/jesmyn-ward-1426_grief_sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-cau_1040210.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2da/jesmyn-ward-1426_grief_sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-cau_1040210.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2da/jesmyn-ward-1426_grief_sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-cau_1040210.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly, caught in the throat, making it nearly impossible to breathe.” — Jesmyn Ward", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Jesmyn Ward", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesmyn-ward/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Sorrow is food swallowed too quickly,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-caught-in-the-throat-making-it/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesmyn-ward/sorrow-is-food-swallowed-too-quickly-caught-in-the-throat-making-it/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```