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Classic epitaphs from classic sources
and humorous epitaphs from gravestones . . .
Part of the pleasure of tombstone genealogy is epitaph browsing. Epitaphs are those quotations, or bits of sentiment beyond the genealogical data (names, dates, relationships), that you find etched on gravestones.
Selecting a fitting epitaph to memorialize our kin can be a difficult task, presenting a single opportunity to leave a timeless glimpse of our loved one's character. This page offers an assortment of quotations from literature and the Bible, all suitable for gravestone epitaphs. Additionally, you'll find a few of our favorite humorous epitaphs adorning actual gravestones. Enjoy!
Gone are the living,
but the dead remain,
And not neglected;
for a hand unseen,
Scattering its bounty like a summer rain,
Still keeps their graves and their remembrance green.
Epitaph from gravestone of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(The Jewish Cemetery; Newport, Rhode Island)
From Literature
- Beyond is the infinite morning of a day without tomorrow. (W.S. Abbott)
- But in the night of death hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. (Ingeresoll)
- Death is not a foe, but an inevitable adventure. (Sir Oliver Lodge)
- Death is the golden key that opens the palace of Eternity. (Milton)
- Death’s but a path to be trod if man would ever pass to God. (T. Parnell)
- Dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul. (Longfellow)
- Each lonely scene shall thee restore. (William Collins)
- Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. (Moore)
- Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. (Moore)
- Every man’s life is a plan of God. (Horace Bushnell)
- Faith builds a bridge across the gulf of death. (Young)
- Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o’erfraught heart and bids it break. (Shakespeare)
- God gives us love. Something to love He lends us. (Tennyson)
- God is and all is well. (Whittier)
- He hath awakened from the dream of life. (Shelley)
- Heaven, the treasury of everlasting joy. (Shakespeare)
- His daily prayer, far better understood in acts than words, was simple doing good. (Whittier)
- Humble love, and not proud science, keeps the door of heaven. (Young)
- In His will is our peace. (Dante)
- Joy, joy forever! – My task is done – the gates are pass’d and heaven is won. (Moore)
- Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound. (H. Melville)
- Mercy to him that shows it, is the rule. (Cowper)
- Music, when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory. (Shelley)
- Mutual love, the crown of all our bliss. (Milton)
- Nature’s loving proxy, the watchful mother. (Bulwer)
- Now twilight lets her curtain down and pins it with a star. (L.M. Child)
- Onward to thy glory! Tis always morning somewhere in the world. (R.H. Horne)
- Sorrows are like tall angels with star-crowns in their hair. (Margery Eldredge Howell)
- Strength is born in the deep silence of long-suffering hearts, not amid joy. (Hemans)
- Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into heaven. (H.W. Beecher)
- The acts of this life are the destiny of the next. (Eastern proverb)
- The cross leads generations on. (Shelley)
- The end and the reward of toil is rest. (James Beattie)
- The greatest attribute of Heaven is mercy. (Beaumont and Fletcher)
- The heart of him who truly loves is a paradise on earth. (Lamennais)
- The heart of man is restless until it finds its rest in Thee. (St. Augustine)
- The kiss of the sun for pardon, the song of the birds for mirth, One’s nearer God’s heart in a garden, than anywhere else on earth. (Dorothy Francis)
- The soul that suffers is stronger than the soul that rejoices. (E. Shepard)
- There hath pass’d away a glory from the earth. (Wordsworth)
- There is a sweet job that comes to us through sorrow. (Spurgeon)
- There never was night that had no morn. (D.M.N.Craik)
- Things past belong to memory alone, things future are the property of hope. (John Home)
- Till the master of all good workmen shall set us to work anew. (Rudyard Kipling)
- Tis not the whole of life to live, nor all of death to die. (J. Montgomery)
- To love is to place our happiness in the happiness of another. (Leibnitz)
- Until the day break, and the shadows flee away. (Cant. 2:1)
- What seem to us but dim funeral tapers may be heaven’s distant lamps. (Longfellow)
- Where He leads me I can safely go. (Millay)
- Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest. (Goethe)
- Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. (Oscar Wilde)
- Yet in this heart’s most sacred place, thou, alone, shall dwell forever. (Moore)
From the Bible
- All things work together for good to them that love God. (Romans 8:28)
- Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)
- Believe on Him to life everlasting. (Timothy 1:16)
- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
- Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)
- Blessed is the man who maketh the Lord his trust. (Psalms 40:4)
- Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. (Matthew 11:28)
- For of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 19:14)
- For with thee is the fountain of life: in the light shall we see light. (Psalms 36:)9
- God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. (1st John 4:16)
- Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
- He shall receive in the world to come eternal life. (Mark 10:30)
- He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life. (John 3:16)
- He that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matthew 10:22)
- I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he Were dead, yet shall he live. (John 11:25)
- I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. (2nd Timothy 4:7)
- I rejoice in thy salvation. (1st Samuel 2:1)
- I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. (Philippians 1:3)
- Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1)
- Not my will, but thine be done. (Luke 22:42)
- Sleep on now, and take your rest. (Matthew 26:45)
- The Lord hath given him rest from all his enemies. (2nd Samuel 7:1)
- The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. (23rd Psalm)
- The Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent, one from the other. (Genesis 31:49)
- The righteous shall go into life eternal. (Matthew 25:46)
- This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17)
- This is the promise . . . life everlasting. (1st John 2:2)
- Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. (23rd Psalm)
- Thy remembrance shall endure into all generations. (102nd Psalm)
- Well done, thou good and faithful servant. (Matthew 25:21)
- Whither thou goest, I will go. (Ruth 1:1)
- Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:15)
Humorous Favorites from Gravestones
A dishonest man
Here lies a man who while he lived
Was happy as a linnet.
He always lied while on the earth
And now he's lying in it.
A stone in Oconto Falls, WI
Here Lies The Body Of A Man Who Died
Nobody Mourned - Nobody Cried
How He Lived - How He Fared
Nobody Knows - Nobody Cared
From Paris, France
Tired of this eternal buttoning
and unbuttoning.
Cremated, Julian Skaggs of West Virginia
I made an ash of myself.
From Thurmont, Maryland
Here lies an Atheist
All dressed up
And no place to go.
Russell J. Larsen buried in Logan, Utah
Two things I love most,
good horses and beautiful women,
And when I die I hope they tan this old hide of mine
and make it into a ladies riding saddle,
So I can rest in peace
between the two things I love
William Shakespeare, Holy Trinity Church; Stratford-on-Avon, England
Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To digg the dust encloased heare!
Blest be the man that spares thes stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
From Burlington Vt.
She lived with her husband fifty years
And died in the confident hope of a better life.
From La Pointe, Wis.
To the Memory of Abraham Beaulieu
Born 15 September 1822
Accidentally shot 4th April 1844
As a mark of affection from his brother.
Anna Wallace
The children of Israel wanted bread
And the Lord sent them manna,
Old clerk Wallace wanted a wife,
And the Devil sent him Anna.
Sir John Strange
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.
Sacred to the memory of
my husband John Barnes
who died January 3, 1803
His comely young widow, aged 23, has
many qualifications of a good wife, and
yearns to be comforted.
Ann Mann
Here lies Ann Mann,
Who lived an old maid
But died an old Mann.
Dec. 8, 1767
In Memory of Beza Wood
Departed this life
Nov. 2, 1837
Aged 45 yrs.
Here lies one Wood
Enclosed in wood
One Wood
Within another.
The outer wood
Is very good:
We cannot praise
The other.
When the great judgement day arrives
and Joshua Fenton Newton does not emerge from this hole,
you will know that someone made a mistake
and buried me in the wrong hole.
Here lies my wife:
Here let her lie!
Now she's at rest
And so am I.
Here Lies Mary Smith
Silent At Last
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