Giles Andreae Quotes

People, although having their own cross to carry, can minister to others through their own pain.

Eleonora Duse said, "Tell me about Deirdre and Patrick," and made me repeat to her all their little sayings and ways, and show her their photos, which she kissed and cried over. She never said "Cease to grieve", but she grieved with me, and, for the first time since their death, I felt I was not alone.

Like some kind of strange vacuum cleaner I tried to console him. I recited the same old litanies that you say to people when you try to help their broken hearts, but words can't help at all. It's just the sound of another human voice that makes the only difference. There's nothing you're ever going to say that's going to make anybody happy when they're feeling shitty about losing somebody that they love.

I majored in psychology, and I still love listening to people's problems.

There's a general impulse to distract the grieving person - as if you could.

I think when you suffer a tremendous loss, everybody needs love and support in tangible ways. And that's what people have done for us.

People in grief need someone to walk with them without judging them.

What do you say? There really are no words for that. There really aren't. Somebody tries to say, 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.' People say that to me. There's no language for it. Sorry doesn't do it. I think you should just hug people and mop their floor or something.

Quiet and sincere sympathy is often the most welcome and efficient consolation to the afflicted. Said a wise man to one in deep sorrow, I did not come to comfort you; God only can do that; but I did come to say how deeply and tenderly I feel for you in your affliction.

In deep pain, people don't need logic, advice, encouragement, or even Scripture. They just need you to show up and shut up.

I definitely have sympathy for people who are struggling. I've met with young Muslims who have told me about their struggles.

We enjoy some gratification when our good friends die; for though their death leaves us in sorrow, we have the consolatory assurance that they are beyond the ills by which in this life even the best of people are broken down or corrupted.

Three-fourths of the people you will ever meet are hungering and thirsting for sympathy. Give it to them, and they will love you.

You were supposed to empathize with your friend's problem, but they were, after all, your friend's problems.

Care for the living. I'll weep for the dead later. - Perrin Aybara

Condole - to show that bereavement is a smaller evil than sympathy.

It's important for us not to lose sight of the fact that this is a family that's grieving and there's been a tremendous loss. And we all have to rally around that piece of it.

Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones and pray for the ones who don't know? Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble, and sob for the ones left below?

He shouldn't be alone at a time like this. This is a special time for me to be around as much as I can. He needs his family and his friends and his fans.

But there is a discomfort that surrounds grief. It makes even the most well-intentioned people unsure of what to say. And so many of the freshly bereaved end up feeling even more alone.

It makes me feel good to have some comforting effect on someone that needs comfort.

I could only try to comfort the women that I came face-to-face with. I was really moved by how much they wanted to talk, how much they needed to be comforted, and how happy they were that we were there.

That sort of half sigh, which, accompanied by two or three slight nods of the head, is pity's small change in general society.

I just like to sing for people who have lost love.

You have to take strength from the people that love you and the people that love Barbara and the huge number of expressions of sympathy and compassion and support. That has been extremely moving.