David Levithan Quotes

I do not think direct experience is always necessary to act, but I believe that sometimes you have to have had the real experience to act certain roles. One of those was losing your family member. I was not being able to imagine how sad that could be.

One can show no greater respect than to weep for a stranger.

I believe that everyone can appreciate the right of a family to grieve the loss of a loved one in peace, regardless of anyone's position on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But there is a discomfort that surrounds grief. It makes even the most well-intentioned people unsure of what to say. And so many of the freshly bereaved end up feeling even more alone.

There's a general impulse to distract the grieving person - as if you could.

I ought to rejoice in the fact that our principal rival has died, but I don't.

In general, I think people are worried about saying the wrong thing to any grieving person. On a very basic level, I think they're frightened of touching off tears or sorrow, as though someone tearing up at the mention of unhappy news would be the mentioner's fault.

I'll always remember when I bumped into Good Morning America's Robin Roberts on a flight to my mother's funeral in 1994, and how kind she was during that difficult time.

No one's death comes to pass without making some impression, and those close to the deceased inherit part of the liberated soul and become richer in their humanness.

I think when you suffer a tremendous loss, everybody needs love and support in tangible ways. And that's what people have done for us.

People in grief need someone to walk with them without judging them.

We are all victims because of the circumstances, but I'm not sure what to say to any one who has lost a loved one. I know the feeling myself, and words just don't do much to ease the pain.

When Christopher and Charles passed away, I was completely depressed, I felt rejected and real down, and so Roscoe invited me because he had this spirit of compassion, and we had gone to school together, were friends and everything.

Going through an illness and then death of a close friend has changed my attitudes to friendship enormously.

And after my mother's death I became more open to and empathetic about other people's struggles and losses.

If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.

You do not see the river of mourning because it lacks one tear of your own.

Anyone who has experienced a certain amount of loss in their life has empathy for those who have experienced loss.

The death of my own son has made me more sensitive. It's made me more compassionate.

For example, when my mother died, the people who showed up just to put an apron on to cook, people who really do the right thing, so to speak, as my momma would always say to show that they care, a sense of community that we've lost so much in our country.

I don't cheer when people lose their lives.

We are deeply sorry for the loss of anything - from your luggage to, of course, a loved pet.

Growing up in Westboro, there was a culture of celebrating death and tragedy... a very calloused way of seeing other people's pain. After I left, it took me a while to be able to really empathize with what it must have been like for the loved ones of people whose funerals we protested.

As a parent who is also a journalist, when I talk to the brother and the sister of a victim or the parent of a victim, I put myself in their position and imagine what would it be like if that happened to me.

If you have ever lost a loved one, then you know exactly how it feels. And if you have not, then you cannot possibly imagine it.