101 Sympathy Messages to Express Your Sincere Condolences

It’s hard to say goodbye. It’s also hard to know what to say to someone else when condolences are needed. You want your friend, loved one, coworker, or acquaintance to know that you care and that you’re sorry for their loss, but simply saying, “I’m sorry for your loss,” may not seem like enough. Instead, you want to express your condolences in a thoughtful, genuine way, but finding the right words is often easier said than done.

Consider sending flowers and fruit with your sympathy card and message. A beautiful flower bouquet will brighten their space when they need it most and indulging in a decadent treat will help to lift their spirits. A Condolences Bouquet Gift Set is the perfect way to enhance your sympathy message with a touching gesture. It includes a stunning bouquet of delicate white flowers nestled in a bed of gorgeous greenery paired with a box of delectable chocolate dipped fruits, including chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate dipped apple wedges, and banana bites dipped in semisweet chocolate and white chocolate.

Want to let them know that you’re thinking of them and are there to support them through their grief? Consider a Thinking of You Flowers & Chocolate Covered Strawberries gift set, which includes a gorgeous Rose & Alstroemeria Bouquet paired with a box of exquisite chocolate dipped strawberries topped with swirls of white chocolate Swizzle®. Or, build your own FruitFlowers® gift bundle for a personalized and thoughtful gesture.

To help you put your thoughts and emotions into words, we compiled a list of 101 sympathy messages for loved ones, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances for the loss of a loved one, a furry pet, or anyone who made an impact on their life. Need some inspiration? We’ve grouped our list of 101 thoughtful sympathy messages into the categories below to help you find the perfect words to express your condolences:

• Sympathy Messages with Love
• Sympathy Messages for Family
• Sympathy Messages for Friends
• Lyrical Sympathy Messages
• Biblical Sympathy Messages
• Sympathy Messages for Acquaintances
• Sympathy Messages for Loss of Pet
• Meditative Sympathy Messages

Sympathy Messages with Love

1. “Life has to end. Love doesn’t.” – Mitch Albom

Love has the amazing ability to hang on, even when life doesn’t. Take comfort in knowing the love you feel for someone who’s now gone can carry on, as well as help carry you through.

2. “I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Their love leaves an indelible imprint in our memories.” – Leo Buscaglia

Even though you may have lost someone close, they live forever in your memory, stories, and actions.

3. “Every life is noted and is cherished, and nothing loved is ever lost or perished.” – Madeleine L’Engle

An uplifting sympathy message for your loved one, the author speaks to how all life has meaning and love is forever.

4. “If the people we love are stolen from us, the way to have them live on is to never stop loving them.” – James O’Barr

Love endures even after death and keeps your loved one forever alive in your heart.

5. “Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.” – Emily Dickinson

From the poem, “Unable are the Loved to die,” Emily Dickinson writes about how love lives forever.

6. “Darkness may hide the trees and the flowers from the eyes but it cannot hide love from the soul.” –Rumi

A sympathy message with love, this quote captures the meaning of solace – to take comfort in knowing love can shine through your sorrow. So even when your loved one is no longer around, they’ll always be with you in your heart.

7. “Those we love and lose are always connected by heartstrings into infinity.” – Terri Guillemets

You don’t stop loving someone just because they’re gone. That love exists without time and space, resulting in a forever-lasting love.

8. “What is lovely never dies, But passes into other loveliness.” – Thomas Bailey Aldrich

Those who pass away leave behind a piece of their beauty. That’s a beauty that ripples into even more beauty.

9. “To have been loved so deeply even though the person who loved us is gone will give us some protection forever.” – J.K. Rowling

Love is a force and shield. It both arms us and protects us. Take comfort with this sympathy message that love cannot be taken from you, not even by death.

10. “Do not stand

By my grave, and weep.

I am not there,” – Clare Harner

From the poem, “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep,” Clare Harner reminds readers that the body is but a vessel, and when the breath is no longer housed in the body, the soul moves on.

11. “Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.” – Rumi

Love ties two people together. There isn’t anything that can break that love – not time, space, or death.

12. “Grief and love are conjoined, you don’t get one without the other.” – Jandy Nelson

Like yin and yang, up and down, forward and backward, love and grief are forever interwoven.

13. “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” – Alfred Lord Tennyson

An iconic, longstanding sympathy message that helps the grieving to understand that the love they felt for the one they lost is much stronger and more enduring than the loss. And that love is a gift worth the possible heartbreak.

Sympathy Messages for Family

14. “Yet if you should forget me for a while

And afterwards remember, do not grieve:

For if the darkness and corruption leave

A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,

Better by far you should forget and smile

Than that you should remember and be sad.” – Christina Rossetti

Those who love you would want you to carry on and enjoy life, not sit by their final resting place and cry. This poetic lyric makes a great sympathy message for those who are afraid they will forget their loved one who has passed on.

15. “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” – A.A. Milne

The only reason it’s difficult to say goodbye is because something is so precious in the first place. Rejoice in the life and love that was.

16. “Do not cry because they are past! Smile, because they once were!” – Ludwig Jacobowski

Though you do need to take time to grieve, it’s not a place to dwell. Remember the life that was and smile because of it.

17. “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller

All the good times you shared with your loved one remain alive in your memories. When you love someone, who they were also lives on as a part of you.

18. “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” – Thomas Campbell

A sympathy message for family that reminds you love lives on in your heart. The body may pass away, but love lives forever.

19. “A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again.” – Maya Angelou

There’s a reason why people reminisce about loved ones who have passed on. The great never die. They’re spoken of in high regard through endless stories through generations.

20. “How can the dead be truly dead when they still live in the souls of those who are left behind?” – Carson McCullers

The loss you feel is the presence of your love for the person who is no longer physically in your life. That love also soothes that loss, keeping them alive in your heart.

21. “Death is the most blessed dream.” – Georg Büchner

A sympathy message reminding the grief-stricken that death is but an illusion.

22. “For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” – William Penn

A sympathy message for those who believe in another life after death – a comforting way of thinking of death as a transition from a limited life to an eternal one.

23. “However long the night, the dawn will break.” – African Proverb

Though darkness has set upon you in this time of loss, the light will shine again, just as the sun always rises.

24. “There are some silences that are so huge, and fraught, and haunted, and weighed, and shocked, that they just are; there’s nothing you can say about them that makes any sense.” – Brian Doyle

Sometimes, there are no words of sympathy for loss.

25. “When there are no words, know that the silences are carrying the thoughts and prayers of all who love you.” – Dawn Dais

A hand on your shoulder, a squeeze of the fingers, or sitting quietly beside you, your loved ones often show sympathy through small gestures when no words are to be had.

26. “People die, I think, but your relationship with them doesn’t. It continues and is everchanging.” – Jandy Nelson

A sympathy message for family about how though death takes someone from your life physically, your relationship doesn’t end, it just changes.

Sympathy Messages for Friends

27. “The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.” – Henry David Thoreau

Friends get it. Friends understand. You don’t have to say anything, you just need to be there.

28. “The road through grief is a rocky one. Traveling along it requires courage, patience, wisdom, and hope.” – Candy Lightner

Grief isn’t easy for anyone. There are many ups and downs along the way, and the journey can take a lot out of you. Be gentle with yourself and have hope for tomorrow.

28. “Death ends a life, not a relationship.” – Mitch Albom

Your friend may be gone from this earthly world, but your friendship lives on.

29. “If something comes to life in others because of you, then you have made an approach to immortality.” – Norman Cousins

A sympathy message to remind you that by nurturing friendships, you foster and enhance a bond that lasts beyond the physical realm.

30. “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” – Pericles

Friends touch each other’s lives, intertwining with one another to create a ripple effect through life.

31. “We never lose our loved ones. They accompany us; they don’t disappear from our lives. We are merely in different rooms.” – Paulo Coelho

The joy you had with your loved one, the memories shared, will be with you long after their death. Though they may be out of sight, they’re not out of reach.

32. “Sorrow makes us all children again – destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Grief doesn’t care about your age, occupation, bank account, or intelligence. It just is.

33. “What is there to do when people die – people so dear and rare – but bring them back by remembering?” – May Sarton

Remember your friends who have passed, smile, and share their stories. Your friend will live on in memory.

34. “When the heart grieves over what is has lost, the spirit rejoices over what it has left.” – Sufi Eipgram

Grief highlights your appreciation for who is left in your life.

35. “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

When pain is felt deep within the soul, the power of the love within bursts through the surface, erupting into tears. Tears are not a sign of weakness but an overflow of strength.

36. “Say not in grief he is no more but in thankfulness that he was.” – Hebrew Proverb

A proverbial sympathy message for friends to remind you that remembering your friend with gratitude is far better than lamenting about their departure.

37. “Tears shed for another person are not a sign of weakness. They are a sign of a pure heart.” – Jose N. Harris

Tears are natural. They express deep feelings and raw emotion.

38. “That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not; rather find strength in what remains behind.” – William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth’s notes on sympathy remind you in your time of need that drawing strength from others or your surroundings is paramount for the journey through grief.

39. “Tell your friend that in his death, a part of you dies and goes with him. Wherever he goes, you also go. He will not be alone.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Friendships still exist after death.

Lyrical Sympathy Messages

40. “The song is ended, but the melody lingers on…” – Irving Berlin, “The Song is Ended”

A lyrical sympathy message relating music to life. A life may end, but their essence ripples on like notes on a musical staff.

41. “Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky

That’s where I’m gonna go when I die

When I die and they lay me to rest

Gonna go to the place that’s the best.” – Norman Greenbaum, “Spirit in the Sky”

For those who believe in Heaven, “Spirit in the Sky” is a song with an inspirational sympathy message about going to a better place after death.

42. “When we’re least expecting it

One day in some far off place

I will recognize your face

I won’t say goodbye my friend

For you and I will meet again.” – Tom Petty, “You and I Will Meet Again”

Friends have a way of finding each other. It’s never goodbye, just see ya later.

43. “And it’s true that you’ve reached a better place

Still, I’d give the world to see your face

And be right here next to you

But it’s like you’re gone too soon.” – Mariah Carey, “Bye Bye”

There’s never enough time with the one you love or hold dear.

44. “Crazy skies all wild above me now

Winter howling at my face

And everything I held so dear

Disappeared without a trace.” – David Gray, “Sail Away”

A lyrical way to express how much you miss someone.

45. “And now, the end is near

And so I face the final curtain 

My friend, I’ll say it clear 

I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain 

I’ve lived a life that’s full 

I traveled each and every highway

And more, much more than this, I did it my way.” – Frank Sinatra, “My Way”

A sympathy message for those who lived full lives, especially if they did it their way. 

46. “I ain’t live forever but I’ve lived enough

And I’ve learned to be gentle and I’ve learned to be tough

I’ve found only two things that last to the end

One is your heroes and the other your friends.” – Randy Travis, “Heroes and Friends”

True friendships stand not just the test of time but space as well. You may not speak to your friend every day or see them all the time – they may have passed on – but the friendship remains.

47. “And when we meet

Which I’m sure we will

All that was there

Will be there still.” – Dido, “White Flag”

Those golden friendships when you don’t see each other for 10 years, but you still click like no time has passed are friendships that will remain eternally.

48. “How the faces of love have changed turnin’ the pages

And I have changed, oh,but you, you remain ageless

I turned around and the water was closing all around like a glove

Like the love that had finally, finally found me.” – Fleetwood Mac, “Crystal”

Though not directly related to sympathy, Fleetwood Mac sings deeply about how a familiar love can still envelop you even though time has passed or you may no longer be with the one you love.

49. “If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I’d save every day like a treasure, and then

Again, I would spend them with you.” – Jim Croce, “Time in a Bottle”

A touching lyric about keeping time in a bottle in order to enjoy it again when that particular time has otherwise run out.

50. “If you wake up and don’t want to smile

If it takes just a little while

Open your eyes and look at the day

You’ll see things in a different way.” – Fleetwood Mac, “Don’t Stop”

The iconic song, “Don’t Stop” is an inspirational way to think about the future. Even if you wake with a heavy heart and can’t bear to face the day, give it a shot. Every moment brings a chance for healing.

Biblical Sympathy Messages

51. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4

Probably one of the most popular Biblical phrases used during Last Rites, it is to comfort both those who are dying and those who are left behind to grieve.

52. “Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal.” –Thomas Moore

For those who go on to Heaven, there is no more sorrow, no more tears, and no more pain and suffering.

53. “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelation 21: 4

Revelations talks about life after death, the second coming, and what Heaven is like. Take comfort that those who reach Heaven are well-cared for and are no longer suffering.

54. “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.” – Isaiah 43:2

A Biblical sympathy message reassuring the grief-stricken that God will always be there, even through the tough times.

55. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” – Matthew 11:28

God grants comfort and peace to those who seek Him.

56. “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” – Psalm 46:1

Show your loved one sympathy with a message about how God will comfort those in grief or pain. God can be the rock on which they’re able to stand again.

57. “Then the God of love and peace will be with you.” – 2 Corinthians 13:11

In times of hurt and sorrow, let God give you peace and comfort.

58. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

A foundational passage in the Bible about the beginning of life and God’s sacrifice for the human race to have the opportunity to dwell in Heaven after death.

59. “And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” – Ecclesiastes 12:7

A comforting sympathy message to remind those who are hurting that the body is just a vessel, but the soul lives on.

60. “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” – Hebrews 13:5

God embraces those who are hurt or grieving. He will be there every step of the way.

61. “For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness.” – Psalms 18:28

A Biblical sympathy message to remind you that God is a light in the dark. Reach out to Him, He who shines your way.

62. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isaiah 41:10

God’s reminder to His believers that He will be there for them. Take rest, He will hold you up.

63. “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” – Isaiah 43:2

God assures His followers over and over throughout the Bible that He will always be there, beside those who come to Him, and protect them from harm.

Sympathy Messages for Acquaintances

64. “What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.” – Richard Bach

It can be hard to conceive what lies beyond life. It may look like an ending, but that’s only one perspective.

65. “Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Though it seems bleak and dreary during times of grief, this sympathy message is a reminder to hang onto the good memories.

66. “End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The gray rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

A poetic verse from author J.R.R. Tolkien expressing hope regarding death and what comes next.

67. “He that lacks time to mourn, lacks time to mend.” – Sir Henry Taylor

Grief is part of the process of healing from losing a loved one. Mourning is natural and a way to move through the journey.

68. “It’s so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone.” – John Steinbeck

A sympathy message to convey the importance and beauty of a life lived.

69. “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – Edward J. Stieglitz

It’s not how long a person lives, it’s how they spent those years.

70. “Grief is like the ocean; it comes on waves ebbing and flowing. Sometimes the water is calm, and sometimes it is overwhelming. All we can do is learn to swim.” – Vicki Harrison

Going through the journey of losing someone features a lot of ups and downs, good and bad moments, times when you can handle it and times when you feel you can’t. It’s all a part of the process.

71. “There is no pain so great as the Memory of joy in present grief.” – Aeschylus

Mourning your loved one creates a wide range and mix of emotions.

72. “Sorrow is so easy to express and yet so hard to tell.” – Joni Mitchell

When it comes to deep sadness, words just can’t express it.

73. “Death is not extinguishing the light. It is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” – Rabindranath Tagore

Many people think of death as the end. This sympathy message expresses the belief that a new dawn arises instead.

74. “Lives are like rivers: Eventually they go where they must. Not where we want them to.” – Richard Russo

There is no way to predict how life will go.

75. “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.” – Ernest Hemingway

Death is inevitable – what matters is what happens before then.

76. “Loss and possession, death and life are one, There falls no shadow where there shines no sun.” – Hilaire Belloc

The yin and yang of the world as we know it – a cyclical balance of life and death, right and wrong, good and evil, and love and loss. You cannot have one without the other.

77. “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” – George Eliot

Keeping your loved ones alive in your memory and heart is to keep them alive forever.

Sympathy Messages for Loss of Pet

78. “Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge…” – Author Unknown

The Rainbow Bridge is where pets cross over. Many pet owners are familiar with this anonymous poem. It describes a heaven for pets and how they’re reunited with their human family members.

79. “If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went.” – Will Rogers

A sentiment shared by many. Enduring the loss of a pet is one of the hardest things to get through. Most pet owners want nothing more than to see their furry family members once again.

80. “Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them and filling an emptiness we didn’t ever know we had.” – Thom Jones

Many pet owners feel their pet found them, and not the other way around. There is nothing else quite like the love from a pet.

81. “Time spent with a cat is never wasted.” – Sigmund Freud

Time with any pet is never wasted. It brings comfort, joy, and so much more to your life.

82. “No amount of time can erase the memory of a good cat, and no amount of masking tape can ever totally remove his fur from your couch.” – Leo Dworken

A humorous way of saying how pets live on in your memory just like pet hair seems to be forever embedded in the furniture.

83. “Nobody can fully understand the meaning of love unless he’s owned a dog. A dog can show you more honest affection with a flick of his tail than a man can gather through a lifetime of handshakes.” – Gene Hill

Dogs are pure of heart.

84. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” – Anatole France

Another sympathy message for the loss of a pet that expresses how love from a pet is different than love from a person. Animals live in the present moment, and their love is never ending.

85. “Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.” – Amy Sedaris

Pets accept us for who we are. They love us unconditionally and genuinely want to be with us. Losing them, losing that type of love, is one of the most difficult experiences to go through.

86. “Everyone thinks they have the best dog and none of them are wrong.” – W. R. Purche

No truer words.

87. “Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really.” – Agnes Sligh Turnbull

Indeed. We have them for such a short period of time, comparatively speaking to our own lives. It’s like a blip on the radar.

88. “The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That’s the deal.” – C.S. Lewis

Yet the love and happiness from the bond with a pet is immeasurable and invaluable, and well worth the deal.

89. “Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.” – Meister Eckhart

It’s tough to see through the haze of tears, despair, and sorrow, but beyond that is clarity, hope, and renewal.

Meditative Sympathy Messages

90. “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” – Isaac Asimov

Life and death, in and of themselves, are not something to be afraid of. Moving from one realm to the other is where the turbulence is.

91. “Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.” – Marcus Aurelius

There’s enough fear, pain, and suffering in the world. A heartfelt sympathy message reminding those who are hurt to focus on the good, breathe in the beauty, and look up to the sky.

92. “It’s funny how, in this journey of life, even though we may begin at different times and places, our paths cross with others so that we may share our love, compassion, observations, and hope. This is a design of God that I appreciate and cherish.” – Steve Maraboli

The people in your life come and go. Along the journey, relationships are built, love is shared, and memories made. With beginnings come endings, but with endings come new beginnings.

93. “Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.” – Arthur Schopenhauer

Through loss and grief, appreciation grows for what remains in your life.

94. “Yes, death. Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no to-morrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace. You can help me. You can open for me the portals of death’s house, for love is always with you, and love is stronger than death is.” – Oscar Wilde

A poetic and sympathetic version of death’s description. Love conquers all, even death.

95. “That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.” – Emily Dickinson

Though your lives may never cross again in this world, making your time together that much more precious, perhaps one day…

96. “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” – J.K. Rowling

Author J.K. Rowling highlights death as a logical step in the journey of life. For those who see it as such, death is the step into the great, big unknown and an intriguing adventure.

97. “Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.” – Lao Tzu

Life is not linear, it’s cyclical. Life and death revolve around one another, creating different perspectives.

98. “Death there is a natural end and a supernatural beginning.” – Tom Brown Jr.

Death is both an end and beginning. It is a transition into a different state, which is the big mystery.

99. “The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude.” – Thornton Wilder

Most people don’t want others crying over their death. Most people would rather that, in their death, people remember, smile, share stories, and express thankfulness for having known them.

100. “Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.” – Haruki Murakami

Again, yin and yang and the cyclical balance of life, which death is a part of.

101. “Death is beautiful when seen to be a law, and not an accident.” – Henry David Thoreau

While there are no definitive answers to life and death, believing in something after life as you know it is the best way to travel life’s journey and come to peace with the end of what you know. The idea that something lies beyond this life is comforting and can ease the transition.

One of these touching sympathy messages might perfectly encapsulate your feelings, or they might inspire you to find the right words that will make your friend or loved one feel loved and supported through their grief. Once you’ve found the right words, make it even more meaningful with one of our top selling FruitFlowers® or build your own gift bundle to choose a stunning flower bouquet and a box of indulgent treats or a cuddly plush teddy bear to bring them comfort.