125 Goodbye Quotes To Inspire a Meaningful Farewell

Saying goodbye is more than just a simple farewell greeting. Although many times our departures are more equivalent to saying "see you later," other times our goodbyes are long-lasting or permanent. It's never easy and knowing what to say at these emotional times can be difficult. When you are at a loss for words and are trying to sort through your feelings, reading through some inspiring goodbye quotes can be helpful.

Whether you are suffering a permanent loss, moving away, changing jobs or expecting to reunite with a loved one soon, all of the events carry some pretty heavy emotion. In fact, there have been a lot of words spoken about farewells, both sweet and painful. Sometimes other people's words have the ability to spark a feeling we have difficulty expressing ourselves.

The emotion of losing a connection with someone can sometimes even catch us by surprise. You may not realize how important your relationships with neighbors and co-workers are until you have to make a move. Then, all of the good feels come rushing in and you know those people will be missed.

To help you sort through all of that emotion or find words to express a meaningful farewell, we've put together a list of inspiring goodbye quotes.

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125 Best Goodbye Quotes

1. “Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry.” — Dr. Seuss

2. “Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.” — William Shakespeare

3. “Goodbye may seem forever. Farewell is like the end, but in my heart is the memory and there you will always be.” — Disney

4. "If you are brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello." — Paulo Coelho

5. “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” — Semisonic

6. “Goodbyes make you think. They make you realize what you’ve had, what you’ve lost, and what you’ve taken for granted.” — Ritu Ghatourey

7. “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss

8. “May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.” — Irish Blessing

9. “How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” — Winne the Pooh

10. “Never say goodbye because goodbye means going away and going away means forgetting.” — Peter Pan

11. “Saying goodbye doesn’t mean anything. It’s the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it.” — Trey Parker

12. “The easiest way to find out how you feel about someone. Say goodbye.” — Phil Knight

13. “So long, see you around, but never a final goodbye.” — Fred Flagler

14. “For every goodbye, God also provides a hello.” — Donna Gable Hatch

15. “You can kiss your family and friends goodbye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.” — Frederick Buechner

16. “Our memories of yesterday will last a lifetime. We’ll take the best, forget the rest, and someday will find that these are the best of times.” — Styx

17. “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” — Helen Keller

18. “We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere.” — Tim McGraw

19. “Live your life as if you are ready to say goodbye to it at any moment as if the time left for you were some pleasant surprise.” — Marcus Aurelius

20. “Saying goodbye feels hard, for sure, but I am confident that it is a door through which we walk to bring us to another good chapter in our story together.” — Claudia Quigg

21. “Why can’t we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn’t work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say goodbye. I hate goodbyes. I know what I need. I need more hellos.” — Charles M. Schultz

22. “Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.” — Dave Mustaine

23. “Goodbyes are not forever, goodbyes are not the end. They simply mean I’ll miss you until we meet again.” — Unknown

24. “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is even if we are apart, I’ll always be with you.” — A. A. Milne

25. “I’ve learned that goodbyes will always hurt, pictures will never replace having been there, memories good and bad will bring tears, and words can never replace feelings.” — Unknown

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Farewell Quotes

26. “There's nothing good about goodnight when it means goodbye.” — Jeff Thomas

27. “Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained.” — Jonathan Harnisch

28. “Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again.” — William Shakespeare

29. “Goodbye always makes my throat hurt.” — Charlie Brown

30. “The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and it feels even better to come back.” — Wendy Wunder

31. “Man’s feelings are always purest and most glowing in the hour of meeting and of farewell.” — Jean Paul Richter

32. “Life is made of so many partings welded together.” — Charles Dickens

33. “The return makes one love the farewell.” — Alfred de Musset

34. “There was something unfinished about not saying farewell, like a door left open in the chill night.” — Julie C. Dao

35. “I’ve been in the same place for 10 years and having to say goodbye and clean out the locker is the toughest part.” — Roy Oswalt

36. “Being able to say goodbye is a sign of growth.” — Gustavo Cerati

37. “Sometimes you have to say goodbye to the things you know and hello to the things you don't.” — Steve McQueen

38. “Farewell has a sweet sound of reluctance. Good-bye is short and final, a word with teeth sharp to bite through the string that ties past to the future.” — John Steinbeck

39. “If you never stop when you wave goodbye you just might find, if you give it time, you will wave hello again.” — John Mayer

40. “With every goodbye comes a new beginning and we can look forward to the possibilities that lie ahead. When we part ways, we can take comfort in knowing that life was good.” — Rolf van der Wind

41. “There was something unfinished about not saying farewell, like a door left open in the chill night.” — Julie C. Dao

42. “To part is the lot of all mankind. The world is a scene of constant leave-taking, and the hands that grasp in cordial greeting today, are doomed ere long to unite for the last time when the quivering lips pronounce the word, farewell.” — R.M. Ballantyne

43. "To die and part is a less evil; but to part and live, there, there is the torment.” — George Lansdowne

44. “It is the will of God and Nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside when the soul is to enter into real life; ’tis rather an embryo state, a preparation for living; a man is not completely born until he be dead: Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals?” — Benjamin Franklin

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

46. “May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be always with you, may the sunshine warm you always till we meet again.” — The Hobbit

47. “Goodbye may seem forever, farewell is like the end, but in my heart is a memory and there you’ll always be.” — The Fox and the Hound

48. “I exist in two places, here and where you are.” — Margaret Atwood

49. “I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart).” — E.E. Cummings

50. “Absence is to love what wind is to fire; it extinguishes the small, it inflames the great.” — Roger de Bussy-Rabutin

Goodbye Quotes To Friends

51. "Don't be dismayed by goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends." — Richard Bach

52. “No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.” — Robert Southey

53. “You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.” — E.B. White

54. “Can miles truly separate you from friends? If you want to be with someone you love, aren’t you already there?” — Richard Bach

55. “We laughed until we had to cry, we loved right down to our last goodbye, we were the best.” — St. Elmo’s Fire

56. “The two hardest things to say in life are hello for the first time and goodbye for the last.” — Moira Rogers

57. “You and I will meet again 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

58. “Good friends never say goodbye. They simply say ‘See you soon.’” — Unknown

59. “If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” — Winnie the Pooh

60. “So long as the memory of certain beloved friends lives in my heart, I shall say that life is good.” — Helen Keller

61. “Perhaps the only thing sadder than saying goodbye to a friend is knowing that they will never be the same as who you remember them to be.” — Jomny Sun

62. “You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing.” — E.B. White

63. “Yesterday brought the beginning, tomorrow brings the end, though somewhere in the middle we became the best of friends.” — Unknown

64. “Though miles may lie between us, we are never far apart. For friendship doesn’t count miles, it’s measured by the heart.” — Unknown

65. “Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.” — Henry David Thoreau

66. “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.” — Flavia Weedn

67. “True friends don’t say goodbye, they just take extended leaves of absence from each other.” — Unknown

68. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder, but it sure makes the rest of you lonely.” — Charles M. Schulz

69. “My heart is your home, wherever in the world you are – you will always have a place to stay.” — K.A. Hill

70. “Distance is not for the fearful, it’s for the bold. It’s for those who are willing to spend a lot of time alone in exchange for a little time with the one they love. It’s for those who know a good thing when they see it, even if they don’t see it nearly enough.” — Meghan Daum

71. “Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.” — Kahlil Gibran

72. “If you think missing me is hard, you should try missing you.” — Unknown

73. “Your absence has not taught me how to be alone; it has merely shown me that when together we cast a single shadow on the wall.” — Doug Fetherling

74. “There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.” — Gandhi Mahatma

75. “Absence sharpens love, presence strengthens it.” — Thomas Fuller

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Meaningful Goodbye Quotes

76. “It’s sad, but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life, starts with goodbye.” — Carrie Underwood

77. “It’s time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I’d much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.” — Ernie Harwell

78. “The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” — Charles Dickens

79. “I don’t have to be so afraid of goodbye, because goodbye doesn’t have to be forever.” — Jenny Han

80. “Moving on is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.” — Dave Mustaine

81. “I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!” — Christopher McCandless

82. “Never part without loving words to think of during your absence. It may be that you will not meet again in this life.” — Jean Paul Richter

83. “It’s so hard saying goodbye… it’s hard saying goodbye to all the things that one has held dear for weeks, months, sometimes years.” — Saqib Saleem

84. “Saying goodbye is the hardest solution to any problem. But sometimes, it’s the only choice we have.” —  Anurag Prakash Ray

85. “What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from.” — T.S. Eliot

86. “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.” — Flavia Weedn

87. “The world is round and the place which may seem like the end, may also be the beginning.” — Ivy Baker Priest

88. “My world has changed, and so have I. I have learned to choose and I have learned to say goodbye.” — Pocahontas

89. “So, for now, I say goodbye to this chapter of my life, and I look forward to what comes next.” — Brooke Davis

90. “Hello is a beginning, and so is goodbye. Goodbye is like a caterpillar that becomes a butterfly.” — Refiloe Moahloli

91. “Every beginning has an ending. Don’t let the goodbye scare you from starting what could be the best story of your life.” — Dawn Lanuza

92. “I guess saying goodbye makes us reach out for those we would ordinarily ignore. Maybe we care about them more, too, when it is time to part.” — Kyung-Sook Shin

93. “Sometimes you’ve got to walk away from something to walk into better things.” — Temi O'Sola

94. “She didn’t resist the rush of tears. If there was no sadness about leaving New York, then her time here would’ve meant nothing.” — Rachel Hauck

95. “I guess that’s part of growing up, too—saying good-bye to the things you used to love.” — Jenny Han

96. “Love them like you've come to the hospital to see them and this is the last time before they say goodbye.” — Nitya Prakash

97. “All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.” — Anatole France

98. “What is that feeling when you’re driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? – it’s the too-huge world vaulting us, and it’s goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.” — Jack Kerouac

99. “We were together even when we were apart.” — Shannon A. Thompson

100. “The simple lack of her is more to me than others’ presence.” — Edward Thomas

Emotional Love Goodbye Quotes

101. “You’ve changed me forever. And I’ll never forget you.” — Kiera Cass

102. “The story of life is quicker than the wink of an eye, the story of love is hello and goodbye...until we meet again." — Jimi Hendrix

103. “I thought I was stronger than a word, but I just discovered that having to say goodbye to you is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.” — Colleen Hoover

104. “Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love.” — George Elio

105. “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

106. “You had me at hello, goodbye and everything in between.” — Shannon L. Alder

107. “The pain of a hard good-bye is the heart’s tribute to the privilege to love.” — Beth Moore

108. “The reason it hurts so much to separate is because our souls are connected.” — Nicholas Sparks

109. “There are no goodbyes for us. Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart.” — Mahatma Gandhi

110. “Love tends to end in a very painful goodbye.” — Taylor Swift

111. “I don’t think that I could ever say goodbye to you… Not even if you said it to me.” — Jaimie Roberts

112. “You know it’s love when you have been saying goodbye for how many times but still you’re not ready to leave.” — Unknown

113. “If she says goodbye, someone else will say hi.” — Amit Kalantri

114. “We have already said more goodbyes than are necessary. Those were goodbyes that brought about the end of partings. We taught each other that no parting is possible.” — Donna Goddard

115. “I don't like a long goodbye, for fear my heart may break and weep.” — Sivi le poète

116. “For each moment I am apart from you, I will feel your presence in my heart. Let me whisper to you one more time, "I Love you". My love for you is timeless and infinite, a journey without end.” — Rolf van der Wind

117. “They kissed goodbye—somewhere between a routine kiss and a wish that it wasn’t.” — Jeff Arch

118. “The rain outside fell faster and harder as memories splash into my eye. Everything reminds me of you, it's so hard to say goodbye.” — Joy Marino

119. “The actuality that the heart does not want to feel, doesn't negate the certitude that it once felt and will still feel.” — Itohan Eghide

120. “Sometimes goodbye is a second chance. Clears your head. Anyway... missing someone makes you remember why you loved that person in the first place.” — Jamie McGuire

121. “Two words. Three vowels. Four consonants. Seven letters. It can either cut you open to the core and leave you in ungodly pain, or it can free your soul and lift a tremendous weight off your shoulders. The phrase is: It’s over.” — Maggi Richard

122. “Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable.” — The Wizard of Oz

123. “I hate the feeling when you have to say goodbye to someone you want to spend every minute with.” — Unknown

124. “That farewell kiss which resembles greeting, that last glance of love which becomes the sharpest pang of sorrow.” — George Eliot

125. “This is not a goodbye, my darling, this is a thank you.” — Nicholas Sparks

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