Epitaph Quotes

Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star. ~ Lucy Maud Montgomery

EPITAPH OF JALALUDIN RUMI
When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men. ~ Idries Shah

Here, at last, he is happy. ~ Edgar Allan Poe

So we're tempted to despair - the despair of the not-as-great-as-we-want-to-be. Charles Spurgeon's epitaph on Alexander could easily describe one way we can go: See Alexander's tears! He weeps! Yes, he weeps for another world to conquer! Ambition is insatiable! The gain of the whole world is not enough. Surely to become a universal monarch, is to make one's self universally miserable.13 ~ Dave Harvey

My Own Epitaph
Life's a jest, and all things show it.
I thought so once, and now I know it. ~ John Gay

Take up the song; forget the epitaph. ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

TIS the year's midnight, and it is the day's,
Lucy's, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks ;
The sun is spent, and now his flasks
Send forth light squibs, no constant rays ;
The world's whole sap is sunk ;
The general balm th' hydroptic earth hath drunk,
Whither, as to the bed's-feet, life is shrunk,
Dead and interr'd ; yet all these seem to laugh,
Compared with me, who am their epitaph. ~ John Donne

If there's no sea-gull there's no meeting, Wicklow had said. No sea-gull means abort. That's my epitaph, thought Barley. 'There was no sea-gull, so he aborted. ~ John Le Carre

I got dizzy," he explained.
I should think you did. What were you doing?'
Nothing," said Moon. "I was trying to face one way or the other and I got confused and fell over."
Let that be my epitaph. ~ Tom Stoppard

All things considered, the happiest epitaph to have etched on one's headstone is this: 'He never knew what hit him'. ~ Thomas Ligotti

This is the epitaph I want on my tomb: Here lies one of the most intelligent animals who ever appeared on the face of the earth. ~ Benito Mussolini

I can't say this too often - that a little humor can make life worth living. That has always been my credo. Somebody once asked me, 'What would you like your epitaph to be?' I've always said that I'd like it to be: He left people a little happier than they were when he came into the room. ~ Bennett Cerf

Francis stared down at the Duchess of York's letter. He swallowed, then read aloud in a husky voice, "It was showed by John Sponer that King Richard, late mercifully reigning upon us, was through great treason piteously slain and murdered, to the great heaviness of this City."
As Margaret listened, the embittered grey eyes had softened, misted with sudden tears.
"My brother may lie in an untended grave," she said, "but he does not lack for an epitaph. ~ Sharon Kay Penman

I never understood why when you died, you didn't just vanish, everything should just keep going on the way it was only you just wouldn't be there. I always thought I'd like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I'd like it to say 'figment'. ~ Andy Warhol

Fatal accidents never happen because of just one mistake. It takes a whole chain of stupids lining up just so to put a full stop at the end of an epitaph. ~ Charles Stross

Epitaph for a dead waiter - God finally caught his eye. ~ George S. Kaufman

Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning, every poem an epitaph. ~ T. S. Eliot

Epitaph on a scolding wife by her husband: Here my poor Bridget's corpse doth lie, she is at rest - and so am I! ~ Benjamin Franklin

I wonder how many of our tombstones will have to be inscribed with the epitaph 'Died of too many meetings'? ~ Hannah Whitall Smith

I wouldn't mind that as my epitaph. ~ Julie Andrews Edwards

Warm summer sun, shine friendly here
Warm western wind, blow kindly here;
Green sod above, rest light, rest light,
Good-night, Annette!
Sweetheart, good-night! ~ Robert Richardson

After your death you were better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live. ~ William Shakespeare

Best of all he loved the fall
the leaves yellow on the cottonwoods
leaves floating on the trout streams
and above the hills the high blue windless skies…now he will be a part of them forever. ~ Ernest Hemingway

A month before the Treasure Fleet's maiden voyage, at the age of thirty-four, Zheng He commissioned an epitaph inscribed on a stone pillar over his father's grave in Yunnan province. He worshiped his father, who had died in battle. The epitaph, one of only three known testimonials from the admiral, described his father's character:

'He was content as an ordinary commoner, but he was brave and decisive in his ordinary life. There was no one in this community who did not look up to him. When he encountered the unfortunate, including widows, orphans, and others with no one to rely on, he routinely offered protection and aid. He cherished the bestowal of extraordinary favours. By nature, he was fond of doing good.'

This revelation of a softer version of manhood as the ideal in much of Asia provided another piece of the answer to the question of how Westerners came to perceive Asians as less masculine. ~ Alex Tizon

I don't want an epitaph on my gravestone that says, 'He would have pursued some big dreams in his life, but other people wouldn't let him. ~ Tom Peters

One of the great Confederate combat leaders, General John B. Gordon, had sat at his horse and spoken farewell to his men. Some he had seen weeping as they folded burnt and shot-pierced battle flags and laid them on the stacked arms of surrender. As he told his troops his own grief he tried to give them hope to rebuild out of the poverty and ashes to which many would return. Gordon would never forget a Kentucky father who lost two sons, one dying for the North, the other for the South. Over the two graves of his soldier boys the father set up a joint monument inscribed God knows which was right. ~ Carl Sandburg

Green leaves on a dead tree is our epitaph-green leaves, dear reader, on a dead tree. ~ Cyril Connolly

BRUCE STERLING Homo sapiens declared extinct, Nature, November 11, 1999:
Since I've been asked to offer an epitaph," the highly distributed poetware continued, "I believe that we should rearrange the Great Wall of China to spell out (in Chinese of course, since most of them were always Chinese)
'THEY WERE VERY, VERY CURIOUS, BUT NOT AT ALL FAR-SIGHTED. ~ Bruce Sterling

When I die, my epitaph or whatever you call those signs on gravestones is going to read: I joked about every prominent man of my time, but I never met a man I dident like. I am so proud of that I can hardly wait to die so it can be carved. And when you come to my grave you will find me sitting there, proudly reading it. ~ Will Rogers

They say love dies between two people. That's wrong. It doesn't die. It just leaves you, goes away, if you aren't good enough, worthy enough. It doesn't die; you're the the one that dies. It's like the ocean: if you're no good, if you begin to make a bad smell in it, it just spews you up somewhere to die. You die anyway, but I had rather drown in the ocean than be urped up onto a strip of dead beach and be dried away by the sun into a little foul smear with no name to it, just this was for an epitaph ~ William Faulkner

Let there be no inscription upon my tomb; let no man write my epitaph: no man can write my epitaph. ~ Robert Emmet

History: a collection of epitaphs. ~ Elbert Hubbard

Do the people of this land ... desire to preserve those [liberties] protected by the First Amendment ... If so, let them withstand all beginnings of encroachment. For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanquished liberty is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch for a saving hand while yet there was time. ~ George Sutherland

Fame itself is but an epitaph; as late, as false, as true. ~ Henry David Thoreau

If I hadn't decided on cremation and a scattering, I could have used the phrase as an epitaph on a chunk of stone or marble: "Tony Webster - He Never Got It." But that would be too melodramatic, even self-pitying. How about "He's on His Own Now"? That would be better, truer. Or maybe I'll stick with: "Every Day Is Sunday. ~ Julian Barnes

For the saddest epitaph which can be carved in memory of a vanished freedom is that it was lost because its possessors failed to stretch forth a saving hand while there was still time. ~ George Sutherland

Epitaph

"love had ten thousand flowers
Bloomed on those cheeks, like an angel you came
as haste to earth and
Opened the joys breast until the sun's has faded,
fatigued with self-heat of burden
Left the world to keep the loads to the enchanting night ~ Nithin Purple

I would like to think that Ive left the world of cardiovascular surgery better than when I found it. That would be a suitable epitaph. ~ C. Walton Lillehei

The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude. ~ Thornton Wilder

It is my fault, and the fault of everyone of my generation. I wonder what the future generations will say about us. My grandparents suffered through the Depression, World War II, then came home to build the greatest middle class in human history. Lord knows they weren't perfect, but they sure came closest to the American dream. Then my parents' generation came along and f***ed it all up - the baby boomers, the "me" generation. And then you got us. Yeah, we stopped the Zombie menace, but we're the ones who let it become a menace in the first place. At least we're cleaning up our own mess, and maybe that's the best epitaph to hope for. 'Generation Z, they cleaned up their own mess. ~ Max Brooks

People asked me what I want as an epitaph: 'He tried' ~ Mario Cuomo

Every hour is another syllable in your epitaph. ~ Fred Chappell

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC ~ Kurt Vonnegut

No one gets out of this life alive.
So leave a footprint of your choice.
You are writing your epitaph.
You are writing it now!
Life is a process, not a goal.
Live it now, or you will miss it!
We have time to spend and no time to waste. ~ Charles Franklin

It's been such a deep and amazing journey for me, getting close to John Keats, and also I love Shelley and Byron. I mean, the thing about the Romantic poets is that they've got the epitaph of romantic posthumously. They all died really young, and Keats, the youngest of them all. ~ Jane Campion

My Epitaph:
THIS is Plan B ~ Oran Kangas

Here the whole world (stars, water, air,
And field, and forest, as they were
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind
In ashes, yet with hopes that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day.
(Epitaph for Joy Davidman) ~ C.S. Lewis

Which epitaph would you choose for your grave-stone: "He made lots of money." or "He saved the Earth"? And don't think I'm being sarcastic, because for once, I'm not. We're all going to die. What will be your legacy? Smaug-loads of money? or Saving the Earth? It's your choice. ~ Steve Bivans

You'll be seeing him tomorrow night, anyway."

"I am?" Hyacinth asked, at precisely the moment Mr. St. Clair said, "She will?"

"You're accompanying me to the Pleinsworth poetry reading," Lady D told her grandson. "Or have you forgotten?"

Hyacinth sat back, enjoying the sight of Gareth St. Clair's mouth opening and closing in obvious distress. He looked a bit like a fish, she decided. A fish with the features of a Greek god, but still, a fish.

"I really…" he said. "That is to say, I can't - "

"You can, and you will be there," Lady D said. "You promised."

He regarded her with a stern expression. "I cannot imagine - "

"Well, if you didn't promise, you should have done, and if you love me…"

Hyacinth coughed to cover her laugh, then tried not to smirk when Mr. St. Clair shot a dirty look in her direction.

"When I die," he said, "surely my epitaph will read, 'He loved his grandmother when no one else would.'"

"And what's wrong with that?" Lady Danbury asked. ~ Julia Quinn

would have recognized the opportunity for a world-class joke, but would never allow myself to be funny at the cost of making somebody else feel like something the cat drug in. Let that be my epitaph. *** ~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

No matter where; of comfort no man speak:
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth ~ William Shakespeare

Here lies my wife: here let her lie! Now she's at rest, and so am I. ~ John Dryden

[Dust]
Agatha Morley
all her life
grumbled at dust
like a good wife

...

Six feet under
the earth she lies
with dust at her feet
and dust in her eyes. ~ Sydney King Russell

Here lies clever Trevor;
Truth was not his friend.
He lied until the end;
Now, he'll lie forever. ~ Esther Spurrill Jones

I used to measure the skies, now I measure the shadows of Earth.
Although my mind was sky-bound, the shadow of my body lies here.
[Epitaph he composed for himself a few months before he died] ~ Johannes Kepler

We write dust epitaphs for our vanquished enemies and watch them blow away in the desert wind. ~ Paolo Bacigalupi

EPITAPH Now I'm not the brightest knife in the drawer, but I know a couple things about this life: poverty silence, impermanence discipline and mystery The world is not illusory, we are From crimson thread to toe tag If you are not disturbed there is something seriously wrong with you, I'm sorry And I know who I am I'll be a voice coming from nowhere, inside
be glad for me. ~ Franz Wright

Queen Jane Seymour's epitaph, inscribed in Latin, translated roughly to:
Here lies Jane, a phoenix
Who died in giving another phoenix birth,
Let her be mourned, for birds like these
Are rare indeed. ~ Leslie Carroll

When they'd been children there'd been a fallen log in the river, and John had walked on it, keeping his balance, instructing his brother: If you don't think about it, you won't fall. - That would be a perfect epitaph, thought Tyler malevolently, crushing the space invader raindrops with his windshield wipers. ~ William T. Vollmann

The first shall be last and the last shall be first, ~ Killah Priest

Indecision will be your epitaph. ~ Upamanyu Chatterjee

I want no epitaphs of profound history and all that type of thing. I contributed. I would hope they would say that, and I would hope somebody liked me. ~ Brian Clough

[Suggesting her epitaph:] This is too deep for me. ~ Hedy Lamarr

I have only one ambition left: I should like to have a good epitaph. ~ Otto Von Bismarck

Buffy Anne Summers 1981-2001 Beloved sister Devoted Friend She saved the world A lot ~ Joss Whedon

On the stone that remains carved next to his name, his epitaph plain, only a pawn in their game. ~ Bob Dylan

As when astronaut Mike Mulhane was asked by a NASA psychiatrist what epitaph he'd like to have on his gravestone, Mulhane answered, "A loving husband and devoted father," though in reality, he jokes in "Riding Rockets," "I would have sold my wife and children into slavery for a ride into space. ~ Mary Roach

It had been a bad trip ... fast and wild in some moments, slow and dirty in others, but on balance it looked like a bummer. On my way back to San Francisco, I tried to compose a fitting epitaph. I wanted something original, but there was no escaping the echo of Mistah Kurtz' final words from the heart of darkness: The horror! The horror! ... Exterminate all the brutes! ~ Hunter S. Thompson

I picture my epitaph: 'Here lies Paul Newman, who died a failure because his eyes turned brown. ~ Paul Newman

Live your epitaph ~ Zoe Weil

Once someone asked me, "What do you want to be your epitaph?" So I said, "Paulo Coelho died when he was alive. ~ Paulo Coelho

Soon after I left the Canton I read, in an otherwise unsuccint paper on ecology: "Organisms themselves are relatively transient entities through which materials and energy flow and eventually return to the environment."
In my more skittish moments I am currently inclined to think that I would rather like this sentence as my epitaph. ~ Colin Fletcher

Death Notice, ...... "He was offended
with his wife, and went and hanged himself." 10 Jun 1817 ~ Boston Recorder

Our loved ones may be nailed in a coffin but their epitaph is nailed in our hearts. Death cannot kill love. ~ Vincent Okay Nwachukwu

Swift has sailed into his rest;
Savage indignation there
Cannot lacerate his Breast.
Imitate him if you dare,
World-Besotted Traveler; he
Served human liberty. ~ Jonathan Swift

The future isn't carved in stone, only your epitaph. ~ Paula Wall

Cast a cold eye
on life, on death
Horseman pass by ~ W.B.Yeats

He remembered the gravestone of a woman parishioner in the churchyard of St. John's in the Grove. DEMURE AT LAST, it read. He thought that the single most definitive and amusing epitaph he'd ever come across. ~ Jan Karon

I beseech those whose piety will permit them reverently to petition, that they will pray for this union, and ask that He who buildeth up and pulleth down nations will, the mercy preserve and unite us. For a Nation divided against itself cannot stand. I wish, if this Union must be dissolved, that its ruins may be the monument of my grave, and the graves of my family. I wish no epitaph to be written to tell that I survive the ruin of this glorious Union. ~ Sam Houston

You didn't build that' will be Obama's political epitaph: With these remarks, Obama has come out of the closet as a most odious collectivist, who believes religiously that government predation is a condition for production. Or, put simply, that the parasite created the host. ~ Ilana Mercer

I joked about every prominent man in my lifetime, but I never met one I didn't like. ~ Will Rogers

I wish to have as my epitaph: 'Here lies a man who was wise enough to bring into his service men who knew more than he.' ~ Andrew Carnegie

It is my ambition to be, as a private individual, abolished and voided from history, leaving it markless. ~ William Faulkner

I want this epitaph engraved on my tombstone: "See you soon ~ Edouard Leve

If you have so earth-creeping a mind that it cannot lift itself up to look to the sky of poetry ... thus much curse I must send you, in the behalf of all poets, that while you live, you live in love, and never get favour for lacking skill of a sonnet; and, when you die, your memory die from the earth for want of an epitaph. ~ Philip Sidney

Bergeron's epitaph for the planet, i remember, which he said should be carved in big letters in a wall of the grand canyon for the flying-saucer people to find was this:
WE COULD HAVE SAVED IT,
BUT WE WERE TOO DOGGONE CHEAP.
only he didn't say doggone. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

We don't want any - " he began, and ought to have chosen his words better, because they were his epitaph. It ~ Terry Pratchett

I tried to make sense of things. Now that I think about it, I have always tried. It could be my epitaph. LEO GURSKY: HE TRIED TO MAKE SENSE. ~ Nicole Krauss

Gun-wielding recluse gunned down by local police" isn't the epitaph I want. I am hoping for "Witnesses reported the sound up to two hundred kilometers away" or "Last body part finally located". ~ James Nicoll

If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl. ~ H.L. Mencken

I will be satisfied if my epitaph shall be written thus: 'Here lies one who never rose to any eminence, who only courted the low ambition to have it said that he striven to ameliorate the condition of the poor, the lowly, the
downtrodden of every race and language and color.' ~ Thaddeus Stevens

All's well that ends well; which is the epitaph I should put on my tombstone if I were the last man left alive. ~ Bertrand Russell

Of the many million pairs of grieving parents, we will never know how many felt that their sons had died for something noble, and how many felt what one British couple expressed in the epitaph they placed on their son's tombstone at Gallipoli: 'What harm did he do Thee, O Lord? ~ Adam Hochschild

Poet: gardener of epitaphs. ~ Octavio Paz

I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: 'Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.' I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have - When he gives everything that is in him to do the job he has before him. That is all you can ask of him and that is what I have tried to do. ~ Harry S. Truman

I will become an eternal epitaph. Your memory shall survive for eternity, within a crystal tomb. This shall be my legacy and my atonement. But most of all... my final hope. ~ Lightning

Si monumentum requiris circumspice
(If you seek his monument, look around.)
[Epitaph on Wren's tomb in St. Paul's Cathedral] ~ Christopher Wren

O Stranger, send the news home to the people of Sparta that here we
Are laid to rest: the commands they gave us have been obeyed.

Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.

[Epitaph of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae] ~ Simonides

I knew that I shouldn't have, but I did it all the same; and there you have my epitaph, or one of them, because my grave is going to require a monument inscribed on all four sides with rueful mottoes, in small characters, set close together. ~ Michael Chabon

Do we, mad as we all are after riches, hear often enough from the pulpit the spirit of those words in which Dean Swift, in his epitaph on the affluent and profligate Colonel Chartres, announces the small esteem of wealth in the eyes of God, from the fact of His thus lavishing it upon the meanest and basest of His creatures? ~ Edwin Percy Whipple