--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Great grief is a divine and terrible…" description: "\"Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which transfigures the wretched.\" — Victor Hugo" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/022/victor-hugo-32_death_great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-rad_2374188.jpg" --- # Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which… ![“Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which transfigures the wretched.” quote by Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/022/victor-hugo-32_death_great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-rad_2374188.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/022/victor-hugo-32_death_great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-rad_2374188.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/022/victor-hugo-32_death_great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-rad_2374188.jpg) > “Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which transfigures the wretched.” [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Divine grief shines intensely, transforming suffering into a profound, awe‑inspiring experience. **In simple terms:** Suffering can become a powerful, transformative light. Key Takeaway Embrace grief as a catalyst for growth. Themes suffering transformation spirituality Mood melancholic reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal loss - collective tragedy - artistic creation - healing processes Key Concepts theology existentialism psychology Questions to Reflect On - How can you channel personal pain into creative energy? - What rituals help honor suffering without being consumed? A Different Perspective Grief may also overwhelm and paralyze if not integrated. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Death](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) [Divine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/divine/) [Grief](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/grief/) [Radiance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/radiance/) [Sorrow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sorrow/) ## Related quotes > [“She talked thus, bent double, shaken with sobs, blinded by tears, her neck bare, clenching her hands, coughing with a dry and short cough,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/she-talked-thus-bent-double-shaken-with-sobs-blinded-by-tears-her/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Every day has its great grief or its small anxiety. ... One cloud is dispelled, another forms. There is hardly one day in a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/every-day-has-its-great-grief-or-its-small-anxiety-one-cloud-is/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [You look at a star for two reasons, because it is luminous, and because it is impenetrable. You have beside you a sweeter radiance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/you-look-at-a-star-for-two-reasons-because-it-is-luminous-and-because/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [These are dark radiances. They have no suspicion that they are to be pitied. Certainly they are so. He who does not weep does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/these-are-dark-radiances-they-have-no-suspicion-that-they-are-to-be/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Brothers, he who dies here dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a tomb all flooded with the dawn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/brothers-he-who-dies-here-dies-in-the-radiance-of-the-future-and-we/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The merciful precepts of Christ will at last suffuse the Code and it will glow with their radiance. Crime will be considered an illness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-merciful-precepts-of-christ-will-at-last-suffuse-the-code-and-it/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Great grief prays with great earnestness. Prayer is not a collection of balanced phrases; it is the pouring out of the soul. What is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-chadwick/great-grief-prays-with-great-earnestness-prayer-is-not-a-collection/) [Samuel Chadwick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-chadwick/) > [But anyone who has been that young knows that the great grief of love is that your body feels the most when it knows…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dunant/but-anyone-who-has-been-that-young-knows-that-the-great-grief-of-love/) [Sarah Dunant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dunant/) > [“Who has not in his great grief felt a longing to look upon the outward features of the universal Mother; to lie on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-rider-haggard/who-has-not-in-his-great-grief-felt-a-longing-to-look-upon-the/) [H. Rider Haggard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-rider-haggard/) > [Great grief does not of itself put an end to itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/great-grief-does-not-of-itself-put-an-end-to-itself/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [It brings me great grief and sadness to hear of the passing of one of the best and most respected trainers of this era,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-de-la-hoya/it-brings-me-great-grief-and-sadness-to-hear-of-the-passing-of-one-of/) [Oscar De La Hoya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-de-la-hoya/) > [Grief, unresisted, is grace. It doesn't mean it doesn't hurt anymore, it doesn't mean it doesn't rip your heart out…In great grief, there's an…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adyashanti/grief-unresisted-is-grace-it-doesn-t-mean-it-doesn-t-hurt-anymore-it/) [Adyashanti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adyashanti/) > [It is possible I am pushing through solid rock, like the vein of ore encased, alone. I am such a long way in I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/it-is-possible-i-am-pushing-through-solid-rock-like-the-vein-of-ore/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) > [“Great grief can be worn charmingly by a beauty and I have seen a lot of gracious dignity at funerals in my time but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-fellowes/great-grief-can-be-worn-charmingly-by-a-beauty-and-i-have-seen-a-lot/) [Julian Fellowes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-fellowes/) > [“She did not like seeing her loved ones like this, bent over with sorrow; everything in her wanted to cry out, to thrash and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anne-ursu/she-did-not-like-seeing-her-loved-ones-like-this-bent-over-with/) [Anne Ursu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anne-ursu/) ## More by Victor Hugo > [Houses are like the human beings that inhabit them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/houses-are-like-the-human-beings-that-inhabit-them/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“There is still a certain grace in a dead festival. It has been happy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/there-is-still-a-certain-grace-in-a-dead-festival-it-has-been-happy/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [He caught her, she fell, he caught her in his arms, he held her tightly unconscious of what he was doing. He held her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/he-caught-her-she-fell-he-caught-her-in-his-arms-he-held-her-tightly/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“First I loved women, then animals, and now I love stones. They're just as amusing as women and animals and they're much less trecherous.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/first-i-loved-women-then-animals-and-now-i-love-stones-they-re-just/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Nature is pitiless; she never withdraws her flowers, her music, her fragrance, and her sunlight from before human cruelty or suffering.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/nature-is-pitiless-she-never-withdraws-her-flowers-her-music-her/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Have courage for the great sorrows of life, and patience for the small ones. And when you have finished your daily task, go to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/have-courage-for-the-great-sorrows-of-life-and-patience-for-the-small/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [The peasants of the Asturias believe that in every litter of wolves there is one pup that is killed by the mother for fear…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/the-peasants-of-the-asturias-believe-that-in-every-litter-of-wolves/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Great blunders are often made, like large ropes, of a multitude of fibres.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/great-blunders-are-often-made-like-large-ropes-of-a-multitude-of/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“For love is like a tree; it grows of itself; it send its roots deep into our being, and often continues to grow green…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/for-love-is-like-a-tree-it-grows-of-itself-it-send-its-roots-deep/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Blacheville smiles with the self-satisfied smugness of a man whose vanity is tickled”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/blacheville-smiles-with-the-self-satisfied-smugness-of-a-man-whose/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Loving in ignorance, she loved with all the more passion. She did not know whether it was good or evil, beneficent or dangerous, necessary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/loving-in-ignorance-she-loved-with-all-the-more-passion-she-did-not/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/laughter-is-the-sun-that-drives-winter-from-the-human-face/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“Our joys have shadows. The perfect smile belongs to God alone.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/our-joys-have-shadows-the-perfect-smile-belongs-to-god-alone/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [“When those we love are in question, our prudence invents every sort of madness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/when-those-we-love-are-in-question-our-prudence-invents-every-sort-of/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) > [Love is a fault; so be it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/love-is-a-fault-so-be-it/) [Victor Hugo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) [Explore all 2,181 Victor Hugo quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/) ## More Death quotes > [“He wondered how it was fair that your dying should depend so much on when you were born.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitch-albom/he-wondered-how-it-was-fair-that-your-dying-should-depend-so-much-on/) [Mitch Albom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitch-albom/) > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Most of us are convinced that we are our egos, which is who we think we are. The ego is part of our incarnation.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/most-of-us-are-convinced-that-we-are-our-egos-which-is-who-we-think/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [I do not want to live at the cost of the life even of a snake. I should let him bite me to death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-to-live-at-the-cost-of-the-life-even-of-a-snake-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“It was beautiful. He thought he had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life; that, having seen it, he could die content,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mira-grant/it-was-beautiful-he-thought-he-had-never-seen-anything-so-beautiful/) [Mira Grant](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mira-grant/) > [Retirement? You're talking about death, right?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-altman/retirement-you-re-talking-about-death-right/) [Robert Altman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-altman/) > [With multiplayer, permanent death, and an ever-changing world to explore and conquer, 'A Valley Without Wind' might be the place you're looking for if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rob-manuel/with-multiplayer-permanent-death-and-an-ever-changing-world-to/) [Rob Manuel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rob-manuel/) > [“What did you see?” she asked gently. His brow furrowed, as if he could not understand the question. Then his eyes turned to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-anthony-torino/what-did-you-see-she-asked-gently-his-brow-furrowed-as-if-he-could/) J. Anthony Torino > [Those whose life is long still strive for gain, and for all mortals all things take second place to money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sophocles/those-whose-life-is-long-still-strive-for-gain-and-for-all-mortals/) [Sophocles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sophocles/) > [“I practice Dying--every night-- But have not learned to, still-- Though Talented--by Mortal bones-- For such a common Skill.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-w-powers/i-practice-dying-every-night-but-have-not-learned-to-still-though/) Alan W. Powers > [“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/) > [I am not a depressive person at all, but I reflect a lot on my life, and life in general, from the perspective of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/i-am-not-a-depressive-person-at-all-but-i-reflect-a-lot-on-my-life/) [Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu/) > [“Death is a reality that calls the rest of life and all of our assorted strivings into sharp relief.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-d-lounsbrough/death-is-a-reality-that-calls-the-rest-of-life-and-all-of-our/) [Craig D. Lounsbrough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-d-lounsbrough/) > [I love life. I love life to death.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emmanuelle-riva/i-love-life-i-love-life-to-death/) [Emmanuelle Riva](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emmanuelle-riva/) > [I think when you’re dying you start looking for important things in the corners. You can’t let anything that seems even semi-important pass, because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-crutcher/i-think-when-you-re-dying-you-start-looking-for-important-things-in/) [Chris Crutcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-crutcher/) [Browse all 39,127 Death quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/death/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which transfigures the wretched.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Victor Hugo" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-radiance-which-transfigures-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Death" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-radiance-which-transfigures-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/022/victor-hugo-32_death_great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-rad_2374188.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/022/victor-hugo-32_death_great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-rad_2374188.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/022/victor-hugo-32_death_great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-rad_2374188.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Great grief is a divine and terrible radiance which transfigures the wretched.” — Victor Hugo", "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": "Victor Hugo", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-hugo/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Great grief is a divine and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-radiance-which-transfigures-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-hugo/great-grief-is-a-divine-and-terrible-radiance-which-transfigures-the/#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 } } ] } ```