Death Positive Quotes

“We can't make death fun, but we can make learning about it fun. Death is science and history, art and literature. It bridges every culture and unites the whole of humanity!”
― Caitlin Doughty, Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? Big Questions from Tiny Mortals About Death

“Tomorrow is not guaranteed, and old age (even with all its inconveniences) is a gift denied to many. You’re alive now, and isn’t that reason enough to celebrate and be happy? And when death does come, will you look back with amazement at all the things you’ve done, or with regret at all the things you prevented yourself from doing? Until then, though, be easy on yourself. Cry when you’re sad. Mourn when there’s a death, and know that grief is the medicine, not the impediment, to healing from a loss. And if still none of this makes any sense to you, don’t worry; it will someday.”
― Tomás Prower, Morbid Magic: Death Spirituality and Culture from Around the World

“A hundred years ago no one was silent or tongue-tied, as we are now, when death was in the room. They had not yet muzzled grief or banished it from daily life. Death was cultivated, watered like a plant. There was no need for whispering or mime.”
― Jim Crace, Being Dead

“Death is dark, but it's also light, and between that contrast I saw a death positive narrative begin to appear. The dark and light can produce a rainbow of color that exists in a spectrum of hues, shades, tints, and values. Its beauty is firmly planted in the storm, but we've become color-blind. And I tremble to say there's good in death, that there's a death positive narrative, because I've looked in the eyes of a grieving mother and I've seen the heartbreak of the stricken widow, but I've also seen something more in death, something good. Death's hands aren't all bony and cold.”
― Caleb Wilde, Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life

“To become comfortable in silence may be the first step in becoming comfortable with death because, on the most basic biological level, death and silence are the same. Conversely, being comfortable in the silence may be the first step in pursuing life. As I would come to learn, death may not be so horrible after all. In fact, death may be the most beautiful thing about this human experiment. But I believe we can only see the positive in death when we learn to accept the silence. When we're able to tap that reservoir of bravery and lay aside all our words against death, and sit, not as the teacher of death, but as the student, listening to what death has to say in the silence, this is the first step.”
― Caleb Wilde, Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life

“Instead of giving a timetable to grief and how we relate to the death, an icon or a shrine accepts that grief and death are still here with us even now because we simply have ongoing bonds with the deceased. They will forever be a part of us and instead of trying to "heal" and find decathexis, we must learn to adjust because love has this amazing way of living on past death, in both grief and joy.
You aren't sick with grief; you're healthy with grief.
And you don't need closure; grief will always be the in-between, and that's okay.”
― Caleb Wilde, Confessions of a Funeral Director: How the Business of Death Saved My Life