Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.
--John O'Donohue (in A Blessing for A Baby Coming Into This World)

Grief and joy and love -- it's all part of the same spectrum. I'm grieving because I loved someone so much. --Maryanne O'Hara (in Death Doulas Provide End of Life Aid)

Joy is an act of rebellion. And so is allowing ourselves to feel our grief. --Octavia Raheem (in Black Joy in Pursuit of Racial Justice)

What if joy is not only entangled with pain, or suffering, or sorrow, but is also what emerges from how we care for each other through those things? --Ross Gay (in Ross Gay: Inciting Joy)

So pain pushes until vision pulls and I have a muscle that I've developed to help people see the vision, to pull them through the pain, and it's a privilege to do it and it's a joy. --Lynne Twist (in Finding Fulfillment in a Purpose Larger than You)

"Now shall I walk, or should I ride?

"Ride," Pleasure said.

"Walk," Joy replied. --W.H. Davies (in Metaphors of Movement)

If the sight of the blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass has the power to move you, rejoice, for your soul is alive. --Eleonora Duse (in An Awe Walk)