Why does watching a dog be a dog fill one with happiness? Jonathan Safran Foer

Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur–this lovely world, these precious days … E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Kahlil Gibran

The trouble with you humans is that you are so concerned with staying afloat. Go ahead, be gouged open by love. Gulp that saltwater, sink beneath the waves. You’re not a boat, you can go under and come up again, with those big old lungs of yours, those hard kicking legs. Laura Lamb Brown-Lavolie

The trick of functioning with grief is that of remembering and forgetting all at once. Of letting the ghost walk at your side but not block your way. Jack Ketchum