--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Grief can be a slow ache that never seems…" description: "\"Grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising, yet as we grieve, those we love mysteriously become more and more a part of who we are.\" — Ma..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbe/mark-nepo-1670_ache_grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seem_2026808.png" --- # Grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising… ![“Grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising, yet as we grieve, those we love mysteriously become more and more a part of who we are.” quote by Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbe/mark-nepo-1670_ache_grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seem_2026808.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbe/mark-nepo-1670_ache_grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seem_2026808.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbe/mark-nepo-1670_ache_grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seem_2026808.png) > “Grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising, yet as we grieve, those we love mysteriously become more and more a part of who we are.” [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Grief continuously shapes us, integrating the lost into our identity as we process loss. **In simple terms:** Grief changes who we are. Key Takeaway Embrace grief to grow. Themes grief identity growth Mood sad reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal loss - bereavement counseling - memorial rituals - creative expression Key Concepts psychology existentialism Questions to Reflect On - How does grief alter your sense of self? - What practices help integrate loss? A Different Perspective Grief may also lead to prolonged stagnation if unprocessed. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Grieving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grieving/) [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Those we love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/those-we-love/) ## Related quotes > [If they tell you that she died of sleeping pills you must know that she died of a wasting grief, of a slow bleeding…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clifford-odets/if-they-tell-you-that-she-died-of-sleeping-pills-you-must-know-that/) [Clifford Odets](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clifford-odets/) > [“I didn't know what to say. It kind of hurt just to look at her, in a way i'd forgotten. Sort of like a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maggie-stiefvater/i-didn-t-know-what-to-say-it-kind-of-hurt-just-to-look-at-her-in-a/) [Maggie Stiefvater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maggie-stiefvater/) > [The heart that loves must one day grieve. Love and grief are the Goddess's twined gifts. Let the pain in, let it open your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cate-tiernan/the-heart-that-loves-must-one-day-grieve-love-and-grief-are-the/) [Cate Tiernan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cate-tiernan/) > [“The sun may rise from the west or the stars may cover up the sky in the day but there’s no way you’ll ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tshetrim-tharchen/the-sun-may-rise-from-the-west-or-the-stars-may-cover-up-the-sky-in/) [Tshetrim Tharchen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tshetrim-tharchen/) > [When you part from your friend, you grieve not. For that which you love most in himmay be clearer in his absence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-part-from-your-friend-you-grieve-not-for-that-which-you-love-4/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/khalil-gibran/when-you-part-from-your-friend-you-grieve-not-for-that-which-you-love-3/) [Khalil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/khalil-gibran/) > [“When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kahlil-gibran/when-you-part-from-your-friend-you-grieve-not-for-that-which-you-love-2/) [Kahlil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kahlil-gibran/) > [“We love in order to grieve then love !!”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hesham-nebr/we-love-in-order-to-grieve-then-love/) [Hesham Nebr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hesham-nebr/) > [“When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love in him most may be clearer in his absence, as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kahil-gibran/when-you-part-from-your-friend-you-grieve-not-for-that-which-you-love/) [Kahil Gibran](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kahil-gibran/) > [“Loving someone means that you will inevitable grieve for them; love is an engraved invitation for grief.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sunshine-o-donnell/loving-someone-means-that-you-will-inevitable-grieve-for-them-love-is/) [Sunshine O'Donnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sunshine-o-donnell/) > [When the sweet ache of being alive, lodged between who you are and who you will be, is awakened, befriend this moment. It will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/when-the-sweet-ache-of-being-alive-lodged-between-who-you-are-and-who/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [ Our best hope for the future \[...\] lies in an appreciation of the fact that, even if we don’t empathize with distant strangers, their… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-bloom/our-best-hope-for-the-future-lies-in-an-appreciation-of-the-fact-that/) [Paul Bloom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-bloom/) > [Love is the perception of individuals. Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iris-murdoch/love-is-the-perception-of-individuals-love-is-the-extremely-difficult/) [Iris Murdoch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iris-murdoch/) > [I think I am in my last days, but it doesn't really matter because I have had such a beautiful life. I have lived…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-herz-sommer/i-think-i-am-in-my-last-days-but-it-doesn-t-really-matter-because-i/) [Alice Herz-Sommer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-herz-sommer/) > [Our families and our homes are the center of American life, Everything we do is to make those homes-and the lives in them-more beautiful,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martha-stewart/our-families-and-our-homes-are-the-center-of-american-life-everything/) [Martha Stewart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martha-stewart/) ## More by Mark Nepo > [“Often we find it easier to think our way around things rather than to feel our way through them:”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/often-we-find-it-easier-to-think-our-way-around-things-rather-than-to/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [When we don't get what we want, there's a legitimate grieving, and then the spiritual journey truly begins, because not getting what we want…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/when-we-don-t-get-what-we-want-there-s-a-legitimate-grieving-and-then/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Each soul on earth is complete unto itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/each-soul-on-earth-is-complete-unto-itself/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“a living symbol that can call into my moment of sadness a deeper sense of plenitude and generosity that is always there, but not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-living-symbol-that-can-call-into-my-moment-of-sadness-a-deeper/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“COMING OUT While there is much to do we are not here to do.   Under the want to problem-solve is the need to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/coming-out-while-there-is-much-to-do-we-are-not-here-to-do-under-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The greatest thing we can do to be closer to our own lives and to the freshness of living is to open up again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-greatest-thing-we-can-do-to-be-closer-to-our-own-lives-and-to-the/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [For though we stubbornly cling, believing in our moment of hunger that there is no other possibility of love, we only have to let…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/for-though-we-stubbornly-cling-believing-in-our-moment-of-hunger-that/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Perhaps the hardest thing I've learned, and still struggle with, is that I don't have to be finished in order to be whole.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/perhaps-the-hardest-thing-i-ve-learned-and-still-struggle-with-is/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [A successful creative expression is one in which the person who has expressed it was transformed for having encountered it](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/a-successful-creative-expression-is-one-in-which-the-person-who-has/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [No amount of thinking can stop thinking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/no-amount-of-thinking-can-stop-thinking/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [“Yet beneath all the talk of tragedy and grace, I have come to believe that we are destined to be opened by the living…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/yet-beneath-all-the-talk-of-tragedy-and-grace-i-have-come-to-believe/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [The glassblower knows: while in the heat of beginning, any shape is possible. Once hardened, the only way to change is to break.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/the-glassblower-knows-while-in-the-heat-of-beginning-any-shape-is/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [We work so hard to get somewhere, to realize a dream, to arrive at some destination, that we often forget that though some satisfaction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/we-work-so-hard-to-get-somewhere-to-realize-a-dream-to-arrive-at-some/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Our job is not to expose the mystery but to participate in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/our-job-is-not-to-expose-the-mystery-but-to-participate-in-it/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) > [Pursue the obstacle It will set you free](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/pursue-the-obstacle-it-will-set-you-free/) [Mark Nepo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) [Explore all 217 Mark Nepo quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/) ## More Ache quotes > [… and so he tried to accept the ache in his heart as what Dr. Larch would call the common symptoms of normal life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-irving/and-so-he-tried-to-accept-the-ache-in-his-heart-as-what-dr-larch/) [John Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-irving/) > [When we went into the ocean, I watched his body as he dove into the waves, and it gave me a feeling in my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicole-krauss/when-we-went-into-the-ocean-i-watched-his-body-as-he-dove-into-the/) [Nicole Krauss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicole-krauss/) > [A woman who lives with the stress of an overwhelmed schedule will often ache with the sadness of an underwhelmed soul.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lysa-terkeurst/a-woman-who-lives-with-the-stress-of-an-overwhelmed-schedule-will/) [Lysa TerKeurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lysa-terkeurst/) > [I ache for the touch of your lips dear, but much more for the touch of your whips dear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-lehrer/i-ache-for-the-touch-of-your-lips-dear-but-much-more-for-the-touch-of/) [Tom Lehrer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-lehrer/) > [I was not wounded in any part of my body, but I had never experienced such intense pain, such a ripping of the nerves,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yann-martel/i-was-not-wounded-in-any-part-of-my-body-but-i-had-never-experienced/) [Yann Martel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yann-martel/) > [And the flavor of Pippa's kiss--bittersweet and strange--stayed with me all the way back uptown, swaying and sleepy as I sailed home on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donna-tartt/and-the-flavor-of-pippa-s-kiss-bittersweet-and-strange-stayed-with-me/) [Donna Tartt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donna-tartt/) > [They are enthusiasts, devotees. Addicts. Something about the circus stirs their souls, and they ache for it when it is absent. They seek each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-morgenstern/they-are-enthusiasts-devotees-addicts-something-about-the-circus/) [Erin Morgenstern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-morgenstern/) > [as we acquire new aches and new pains, our health care is, of necessity, being supplied by internists, cardiologists, dermatologists, podiatrists, urologists, periodontists, gynecologists…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-viorst/as-we-acquire-new-aches-and-new-pains-our-health-care-is-of-necessity/) [Judith Viorst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-viorst/) > [Jamie enjoyed solitude, but loneliness was a constant ache.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sidney-sheldon/jamie-enjoyed-solitude-but-loneliness-was-a-constant-ache/) [Sidney Sheldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sidney-sheldon/) > [Some men make money not for the sake of living, but ache In the blindness of greed and live just for their fortune's sake.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juvenal/some-men-make-money-not-for-the-sake-of-living-but-ache-in-the/) [Juvenal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juvenal/) > [Staring at her face, she began to fancy her outer layer had begun to melt away while she wasn't paying attention, and something --…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laini-taylor/staring-at-her-face-she-began-to-fancy-her-outer-layer-had-begun-to/) [Laini Taylor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laini-taylor/) > [O thou beautiful And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased And still increasing lights! what are ye? what Is this blue wilderness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/o-thou-beautiful-and-unimaginable-ether-and-ye-multiplying-masses-of/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [An emotion is a thought, yes, an idea, but it is also a sensation, an ache in your body. Desire, love, hate, fear, repulsion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-landay/an-emotion-is-a-thought-yes-an-idea-but-it-is-also-a-sensation-an/) [William Landay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-landay/) > [He that sleeps feels not the tooth-ache](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/he-that-sleeps-feels-not-the-tooth-ache/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [I will live this day as if it is my last. …I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, Yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/og-mandino/i-will-live-this-day-as-if-it-is-my-last-i-will-waste-not-a-moment/) [Og Mandino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/og-mandino/) Browse all 489 Ache quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising, yet as we grieve, those we love mysteriously become more and more a part of who we are.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mark Nepo" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seems-to-stop-rising-yet-as-we/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ache" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seems-to-stop-rising-yet-as-we/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbe/mark-nepo-1670_ache_grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seem_2026808.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbe/mark-nepo-1670_ache_grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seem_2026808.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbe/mark-nepo-1670_ache_grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seem_2026808.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Grief can be a slow ache that never seems to stop rising, yet as we grieve, those we love mysteriously…” — Mark Nepo", "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": "Mark Nepo", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-nepo/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Grief can be a slow ache...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seems-to-stop-rising-yet-as-we/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-nepo/grief-can-be-a-slow-ache-that-never-seems-to-stop-rising-yet-as-we/#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 } } ] } ```