Inspirational Quotes to Power You Through the Pandemic

A wise woman on Twitter once said, “I am tired of being part of a major historical event.” We couldn’t agree more. Even with lockdowns slowly being lifted in different parts of the world, being hopeful and optimistic continues to be a challenge for many of us, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise and resulting political and economic turmoil set in.

Scott Berinato’s HBR article aptly describes this heavy feeling we’re collectively experiencing as grief. We’re grieving over the loss of the lives we once had; grieving over the loss of presence, touch, and connection; and most of all, grieving over an uncertain future.

Regardless, amidst this adversity, we can continue to find hope in the written word. In this compilation of quotes from notable authors and public figures, we explore the themes of resilience, overcoming grief, getting through each day, and caring for our loved ones. Keep these handy in your phone or a notebook, or share them with a friend.

On resilience and overcoming grief

“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.”

― Elizabeth Edwards

“It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.”

― Germany Kent

“‘And what is there to be joyful about?’ I asked honestly, thinking of the images of dead children curled into themselves at the village. Another burst of silent tears streamed down. ‘Life, Sophie. They still live. They breathe, they love each other, they find joy in the world around them for no other reason than because they are children. They are resilient. They will always rise above. Always. It is a curious facet of the innocent young’.”

― Fisher Amelie, Vain

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not a 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

“Happiness is beneficial for the body, but it is grief that develops the powers of the mind.”

― Marcel Proust

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien (The Fellowship of the Ring)

“The struggles we endure today will be the ‘good old days’ we laugh about tomorrow.”

― Aaron Lauritsen (100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip)

On getting through each day

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

“Never lose hope. Storms make people stronger and never last forever.”

— Martin Luther King Jr.

“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.”

— Viktor E. Frankl

“We think, mistakenly, that success is the result of the amount of time we put in at work, instead of the quality of time we put in.”

— Arianna Huffington

“Always take some of the play, fun, freedom, and wonder of the weekend into your week and your work.”

— Rasheed Ogunlaru

“The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired. One of the great ironies of life is this: He or she who serves almost always benefits more than he or she who is served.”

— Gordon B. Hinckley (Standing for Something: 10 Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes)

On caring for each other

“Joy multiplies when it is shared among friends, but grief diminishes with every division. That is life.”

― R.A. Salvatore (Exile)

“One heart is not connected to another through harmony alone. They are, instead, linked deeply through their wounds. Pain linked to pain, fragility to fragility. There is no silence without a cry of grief, no forgiveness without bloodshed, no acceptance without a passage through acute loss. That is what lies at the root of true harmony.”

― Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“If you do a good job for others, you heal yourself at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual cure. It transcends all barriers.”

— Ed Sullivan

“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”

— Herman Melville

“From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other – above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.”

— Albert Einstein

“None of us will emerge unscathed. But I believe in saying goodbye for now — and then keeping our distance — is our best hope for surviving and being able to return to a time when ‘I love you’ means ‘Hello’ again.”

— James Kuo (On the Front Lines of a Pandemic, ‘I Love You’ Can Mean ‘Goodbye’, New York Times)