--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: the reverse side of love is unbearable…" description: "\"the reverse side of love is unbearable loss.\" — Susan Abulhawa" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/susan-abulhawa-9997_loss_the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-l_800171.jpg" --- # the reverse side of love is unbearable loss. ![“the reverse side of love is unbearable loss.” quote by Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/susan-abulhawa-9997_loss_the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-l_800171.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/susan-abulhawa-9997_loss_the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-l_800171.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/susan-abulhawa-9997_loss_the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-l_800171.jpg) > “the reverse side of love is unbearable loss.” [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Love's opposite is profound grief that can feel overwhelming and destabilizing. **In simple terms:** Loss follows love and can be unbearable. Key Takeaway Acknowledge grief as part of love. Themes love loss grief emotions Mood sad reflective Type literary emotional When to use this quote - breakup - death of a loved one - end of a relationship - personal loss Key Concepts psychology attachment theory bereavement Questions to Reflect On - How does loss reshape your view of love? - What coping strategies help you endure grief? A Different Perspective Grief may also foster growth and new meaning. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) [Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love/) [Love is](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-is/) [Love Unbearable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/love-unbearable-1952707/) [Reverse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverse/) [Reverse Love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reverse-love-6128269/) [Sides](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sides/) [Unbearable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unbearable/) [Unbearable Loss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unbearable-loss-6128268/) ## Related quotes > [“The refusal to love is the only unbearable thing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/madeleine-l-engle/the-refusal-to-love-is-the-only-unbearable-thing/) [Madeleine L'Engle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/madeleine-l-engle/) > [Distance may seperate us but the love I have for you is unbearable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pearlirista/distance-may-seperate-us-but-the-love-i-have-for-you-is-unbearable/) [Pearlirista](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pearlirista/) > [There are so many ways 2 love but I can only love truely So much there is to do in love that I can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ganda-wickliffe/there-are-so-many-ways-2-love-but-i-can-only-love-truely-so-much/) [Ganda Wickliffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ganda-wickliffe/) > [It is better to not love then to love and lost. The pain from the lost love is more unbearable than anyone can imagine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shawn-m/it-is-better-to-not-love-then-to-love-and-lost-the-pain-from-the-lost/) [Shawn M](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shawn-m/) > [Where something becomes extremely difficult and unbearable, there we also stand always already quite near its transformation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/where-something-becomes-extremely-difficult-and-unbearable-there-we/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“the unbearable persistence of hope”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-kingsolver/the-unbearable-persistence-of-hope/) [Barbara Kingsolver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-kingsolver/) > [Anyone can lose a fight. That doesn't bother me. But the shame that comes afterwards is unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-bellew/anyone-can-lose-a-fight-that-doesn-t-bother-me-but-the-shame-that/) [Tony Bellew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-bellew/) > [In the love poetry of every age, the woman longs to be weighed down by the man's body.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/in-the-love-poetry-of-every-age-the-woman-longs-to-be-weighed-down-by/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [There's a point of poverty at which the spirit isn't with the body all the time. It finds the body really too unbearable. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-ferdinand-celine/there-s-a-point-of-poverty-at-which-the-spirit-isn-t-with-the-body/) [Louis-Ferdinand Celine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-ferdinand-celine/) > [What is passion? It is surely the becoming of a person. Are we not, for most of our lives, marking time? Most of our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-boorman/what-is-passion-it-is-surely-the-becoming-of-a-person-are-we-not-for/) [John Boorman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-boorman/) > [Between the covers of the books that no one had ever read again, in the old parchments damaged by dampness, a livid flower had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/between-the-covers-of-the-books-that-no-one-had-ever-read-again-in/) [Gabriel Garcia Marquez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-garc-a-m-rquez/) > [Anyone whose goal is 'something higher' must expect someday to suffer vertigo.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/anyone-whose-goal-is-something-higher-must-expect-someday-to-suffer/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [My job is unbearable to me because it conflicts with my only desire and my only calling, which is literature. Since I am nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/franz-kafka/my-job-is-unbearable-to-me-because-it-conflicts-with-my-only-desire/) [Franz Kafka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/franz-kafka/) > [We plan to eliminate the state of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for Jews by psychological warfare…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yasser-arafat/we-plan-to-eliminate-the-state-of-israel-and-establish-a-purely/) [Yasser Arafat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yasser-arafat/) > [But just remember, life without me would be even more unbearable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-rice/but-just-remember-life-without-me-would-be-even-more-unbearable/) [Anne Rice](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-rice/) ## More by Susan Abulhawa > [Israeli occupation exposes us very young to the extremes of our emotions, until we cannot feel except in the extreme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/israeli-occupation-exposes-us-very-young-to-the-extremes-of-our/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“I have always found it difficult not to be moved by Jerusalem, even when I hated it—and God knows I have hated it for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/i-have-always-found-it-difficult-not-to-be-moved-by-jerusalem-even/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“I grieved three thousand times. Then I grieved for myself, a lonely woman without the honor given to the wives of the fallen. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/i-grieved-three-thousand-times-then-i-grieved-for-myself-a-lonely/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [Do you know, Mother, that Haj Salem was buried alive in his home? Does he tell you stories in heaven now? I wish I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/do-you-know-mother-that-haj-salem-was-buried-alive-in-his-home-does/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“Baba was gone forever. My mother kept waiting for him until the day she died, just as she waited to return home, just as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/baba-was-gone-forever-my-mother-kept-waiting-for-him-until-the-day/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“The soldiers in my life had raised the bar for bad guys.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/the-soldiers-in-my-life-had-raised-the-bar-for-bad-guys/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“When I was a child, Haj Salem told me that answers can be found in the sky if you look long and hard enough.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/when-i-was-a-child-haj-salem-told-me-that-answers-can-be-found-in-the/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“And if our hands should meet in another dream, we shall build another tower in the sky.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/and-if-our-hands-should-meet-in-another-dream-we-shall-build-another/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [An instant can crush a brain and change the course of life, the course of history.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/an-instant-can-crush-a-brain-and-change-the-course-of-life-the-course/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“Yousef had only been gone forty days, but he looked ten years older. His body had become slight, and seeing him like that put…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/yousef-had-only-been-gone-forty-days-but-he-looked-ten-years-older/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“Life had collected her pieces and returned her to love’s source. There had been no coincidence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/life-had-collected-her-pieces-and-returned-her-to-love-s-source-there/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“Though they lived with the indignities of dispossession and military occupation, Huda sang with an unassailable freedom that comes only to those with unwavering…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/though-they-lived-with-the-indignities-of-dispossession-and-military/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“Still, the refugee camp of Jenin remained as it had been, a one-square-mile patch of earth, excised from time and imprisoned in that endless…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/still-the-refugee-camp-of-jenin-remained-as-it-had-been-a-one-square/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“How was it that a man could not walk onto his own property, visit the grave of his wife, eat the fruits of forty…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/how-was-it-that-a-man-could-not-walk-onto-his-own-property-visit-the/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) > [“He took in a premeditated breath, closed his eyes, and exhaled into the nye at his lips, playing a new tune. It was not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/he-took-in-a-premeditated-breath-closed-his-eyes-and-exhaled-into-the/) [Susan Abulhawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) [Explore all 67 Susan Abulhawa quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/) ## More Loss quotes > [A Light exists in Spring Not present on the Year At any other period - When March is scarcely here A Color stands abroad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-dickinson/a-light-exists-in-spring-not-present-on-the-year-at-any-other-period/) [Emily Dickinson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-dickinson/) > [Some minds corrode and grow inactive under the loss of personal liberty; others grow morbid and irritable; but it is the nature of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/washington-irving/some-minds-corrode-and-grow-inactive-under-the-loss-of-personal/) [Washington Irving](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/washington-irving/) > [Age is an accumulation of life and loss. Adulthood is a series of lines crossed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-goodman/age-is-an-accumulation-of-life-and-loss-adulthood-is-a-series-of/) [Ellen Goodman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-goodman/) > [Certainly, it is. Love is love, and loss is loss. We all love, and we all die, and everyone suffers the pain of grieving.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynsay-sands/certainly-it-is-love-is-love-and-loss-is-loss-we-all-love-and-we-all/) [Lynsay Sands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynsay-sands/) > [Shhh.” He put a finger to her lips. “Hear me out. I cannot deny that I would've liked to have made babies with you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-hoyt/shhh-he-put-a-finger-to-her-lips-hear-me-out-i-cannot-deny-that-i/) [Elizabeth Hoyt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-hoyt/) > [“Good morning,” one of the soldiers said. “I’m Captain Joseph Walker and this is Sergeant James Vanetten. We are members of the One-Hundred-and-First Airborne…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shafter-bailey/good-morning-one-of-the-soldiers-said-i-m-captain-joseph-walker-and/) [Shafter Bailey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shafter-bailey/) > [When you lose a person you love so much, surviving the loss is difficult.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cristiano-ronaldo/when-you-lose-a-person-you-love-so-much-surviving-the-loss-is/) [Cristiano Ronaldo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cristiano-ronaldo/) > [Many companies have long contended that stress in the home causes productivity loss in the market place.. and it does. But research now reveals…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zig-ziglar/many-companies-have-long-contended-that-stress-in-the-home-causes/) [Zig Ziglar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zig-ziglar/) > [My idea for 'BoneMan's Daughters' came from the loss of my own daughter when she left home to live with a monster at age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/my-idea-for-boneman-s-daughters-came-from-the-loss-of-my-own-daughter/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [A lost love. Deny it who will, ridicule it, treat it as mere imagination and sentiment, the thing is and will be; and women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/a-lost-love-deny-it-who-will-ridicule-it-treat-it-as-mere-imagination/) [Dinah Maria Murlock Craik](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dinah-maria-murlock-craik/) > [“This book is written in a barren period of loss with an attempt to move forward towards substance.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phindiwe-nkosi/this-book-is-written-in-a-barren-period-of-loss-with-an-attempt-to/) [Phindiwe Nkosi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phindiwe-nkosi/) > [My mind shrank from the menace sweeping down on us, as children's do from belief in death and misfortune, vainly clinging to the fancy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sylvia-pankhurst/my-mind-shrank-from-the-menace-sweeping-down-on-us-as-children-s-do/) [Sylvia Pankhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sylvia-pankhurst/) > [“...what happens when you return and find nothing but a hollowed shell, shingles and floor, walls and echoes and the light that lead you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kellie-elmore/what-happens-when-you-return-and-find-nothing-but-a-hollowed-shell/) [Kellie Elmore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kellie-elmore/) > [Sorrow and happiness are the heresies of virtue; joy and anger lead astray from TAO; love and hate cause loss of virtue. The heart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zhuangzi/sorrow-and-happiness-are-the-heresies-of-virtue-joy-and-anger-lead/) [Zhuangzi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zhuangzi/) > [“...our loves ones truly are ever-present. We may bury their bodies or scatter their ashes, but their spirits are boundless and do not accompany…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/april-slaughter/our-loves-ones-truly-are-ever-present-we-may-bury-their-bodies-or/) [April Slaughter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/april-slaughter/) [Browse all 6,621 Loss quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/loss/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "the reverse side of love is unbearable loss.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Susan Abulhawa" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-loss/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Loss" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-loss/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/susan-abulhawa-9997_loss_the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-l_800171.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/susan-abulhawa-9997_loss_the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-l_800171.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5ef/susan-abulhawa-9997_loss_the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-l_800171.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“the reverse side of love is unbearable loss.” — Susan Abulhawa", "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": "Susan Abulhawa", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-abulhawa/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "the reverse side of love is...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-loss/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-abulhawa/the-reverse-side-of-love-is-unbearable-loss/#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 } } ] } ```