For better or for worse, I've watched people die in front of me. I see how they are in the end. And they're not cynical. In the end, they wanna hold somebody's hand. And that's real to me.
Mitch AlbomRead
but then she did. she died. no more visits, no more phone calls. And without even realizing it, I began to drift, as if my roots had been pulled, as if I were floating down some side branch of a river.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the profound sense of loss and disconnection that follows the death of a loved one.
In this poignant reflection, Mitch Albom expresses the deep emotional impact of losing someone significant. The imagery of drifting like a rootless being or floating on a river highlights the feeling of aimlessness and sorrow that accompanies such loss, emphasizing how it alters one's sense of stability and direction in life.
Themes
LossGriefDeathLoveDisconnection
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about coping with loss at a memorial service.
More from Mitch Albom
All quotes →If we tend to the things that are important in life, if we are right with those we love, and behave in line with our faith, our lives will not be cursed with the aching throb of unfulfilled business. Our words will always be sincere, our embraces will be tight. We will never wallow in the agony of ‘I could have, I should have’. We can sleep in a storm. And when its time, our goodbyes will be complete.
Mitch AlbomRead
Young men go to war. Sometimes because they have to, sometimes because they want to. Always, they feel they are supposed to. This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over the centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down.
Mitch AlbomRead
What about a man who sits down to wonder Why life has cheated him? Thinks about his situation Hangs his head and cries Will we pretend, his problems don't exist? He's reaching out for help-will we selfishly resist? What about your brother? He's crying What about your brother? He's dying What about your brother?
Mitch AlbomRead
Sacrfice," the captain said. "You made one. I made one. We all made them. But you were angry over yours. You kept thinking about what you lost. You didn't get it. Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.
Mitch AlbomRead
The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
Mitch AlbomRead
Similar quotes
Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life?
Mary OliverRead
He's worked his entire life and he's never lived a single moment, I mean not a moment, in the real world.
Katharine HepburnRead
People who mattered could not take the humdrum world. But this was not the world, it was enchantment; and all of it was mine.
Daphne Du MaurierRead
I have a living will and I have friends, and I have money and I have hope.
Terry PratchettRead
Tain't no use in you cryin' . . . But folks is meant to cry 'bout somethin' or other. Better leave things de way dey is. Youse young yet. No tellin' whut mout happen befo' you die.
Zora Neale HurstonRead
After a life deprived of everything from romantic love to the choice of when to wake up in the morning, after 29 years without the ability to have a career or even to be alone at toilet, the Bijani sisters are not symbols but women who have had to live a shared life of constant, quotidian sacrifice.
Darin StraussRead