A goodbye isn't painful unless you're never going to say hello again.

The line distinguishes between the momentary sadness of parting and the deeper grief of finality. A “goodbye” hurts, it suggests, not because separation itself is unbearable, but because it threatens the loss of future connection—the inability to return to the relationship, the place, or the shared life implied by “hello.” The quote offers consolation by implying that farewells are tolerable when they are framed as pauses rather than endings. At the same time, it acknowledges that what people truly mourn is not distance but irreversibility: the closing of a door that will not open again.

1) “A goodbye is never painful unless you’re never going to say hello again.”
2) “Goodbyes aren’t painful unless you know you’ll never say hello again.”
3) “Saying goodbye only hurts when you know you won’t say hello again.”