Though one of the less-remembered holidays, Memorial Day represents one of the most important aspects of life: remembering loved ones who have gone. In years past we have discussed some possible activities to celebrate the day. This year we would like to share 20 quotes regarding remembrance to help you get in the right mindset for this reflective holiday. Keep in mind that everyone received comfort differently. If any of these quotes does little for you, consider another one. Ultimately, Memorial Day is about love and gratitude. Focus your mind on how you can show that this year.
- “I think it is all a matter of love; the more you love a memory the stronger and stranger it becomes.” – Vladimir Nabokov
- “Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance.” – Richard Von Weizsaecker
- “Don’t cry because it’s over; smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
- “There is no death, daughter. People die only when we forget them… If you can remember me, I will be with you always.” – Isabel Allende (Eva Luna)
- “We cannot bring the dead back to life, but we can bring their memory back to life and ensure they are not forgotten. We can undertake in our lives to do what they were so cruelly prevented from doing in theirs.” – Jonathan Sacks
- “As is a tale, so is a life: Not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.” – Seneca
- “It’s hard to turn the page when you know someone won’t be in the next chapter, but the story must go on.” – Thomas Wilder
- “Grief starts to become indulgent, and it doesn’t serve anyone, and it’s painful. But if you transform it into remembrance, then you’re magnifying the person you lost and also giving something of that person to other people, so they can experience something of that person.” – Patti Smith
- “The song is ended but the melody lingers on.” – Irving Berlin
- “Grief is the last act of love we have to give to those we loved. Where there is deep grief, there was great love.” – Unknown
- “As years passed away I have formed the habit of looking back upon that former self as upon another person, the remembrance of whose emotions has been a solace in adversity and added zest to the enjoyment of prosperity.” – Simon Newcomb
- “There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love. – Washington Irving
- “Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with their heart and soul, there is no separation.” – Rumi
- “Remembrance and reflection how allied. What thin partitions divides sense from thought.” – Alexander Pope
- “What we once have enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes part of us.” – Helen Keller
- “A thousand moments that I had just taken for granted – mostly because I had assumed there would be a thousand more.” – Morgan Matson
- “I know not why there is such a melancholy feeling attached to the remembrance of past happiness, except that we fear that the future can have nothing so bright as the past.” – Julia Ward Howe
- “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” – Albert Einstein
- “You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to.” – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
- “By recollecting the pleasures I have had formerly, I renew them, I enjoy them a second time, while I laugh at the remembrance of troubles now past, and which I no longer feel.” – Giacomo Casanova