"They’s a time of change, an’ when that comes, dyin’ is a piece of all dyin’, and bearin’ is a piece of all bearin’, an’ bearin’ an’ dyin’ is two pieces of the same thing. An’ then things ain’t so lonely anymore. An’ then a hurt don’t hurt so bad."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 18. Ma Joad says this to reassure Rose of Sharon, who is worried about her sick Granma calling out for her dead husband. Ma explains that when you get older death and childbirth become part of something bigger and greater than yourself. Ma links them both to everybody else’s life and birth and death, in a way that sounds comforting and not lonely. This also ties in with the idea of Emerson’s "Over-Soul," in which we are all part of the one universal soul.