Epitaph Quotes · Page 3

Epitaph: An inscription on a tomb showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect.

— Ambrose Bierce

“A tomb now suffices him for whom the world was not enough. [ Alexander's tombstone epitaph ]”

— Alexander the Great

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

— William Shakespeare

Lest when I am gone you may be at a loss for an epitaph for me, let me give you one -…

— Robert James Graves

What I spent I lost; what I possessed is left to others; what I gave away remains with me.

— Joseph Addison

Wouldn’t that make a charming epitaph? Here lies Cat. Killed not by fang, but Ferragamos.

— Jeaniene Frost

Over the epitaph of this generation it will say ENTERTAINED TO DEATH.

— Paul Washer

“I tried and failed. I tried again and again and succeeded. [Epitaph from Gail Borden's gravestone.]”

— Gail Borden

I have somewhere met with the epitaph on a charitable man which has pleased me very much. I cannot recollect the words,…

— Joseph Addison

“[Dust] Agatha Morley all her life grumbled at dust like a good wife ... Six feet under the earth she lies with…

— Sydney King Russell

“Write to me your most perfect epitaph, or I shall compare a poet to a lecturer. Thou art more Spartan than a…

— Scott Jonathan Nixon

I didn't want my epitaph to read 'Here lies John Caudwell, billionaire.' I knew that wasn't enough. I've had a charitable instinct…

— John Caudwell

When they write my epitaph, it's going to say, 'Innate Immunotherapeutics, saving millions of lives.' It's not going to be 'member of…

— Chris Collins

I don't want an epitaph on my gravestone that says, 'He would have pursued some big dreams in his life, but other…

— Tom Peters

Either our history shall with full mouth Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave, Like Turkish mute, shall have a…

— William Shakespeare

I haven't written my own epitaph, and I'm not sure I should. Whatever it is, I hope it will be simple, and…

— Billy Graham

“It had been a bad trip ... fast and wild in some moments, slow and dirty in others, but on balance it…

— Hunter S. Thompson

Let there be no inscription upon my tomb. Let no man write my epitaph. No man can write my epitaph. I am…

— Robert Emmet

“If you want me again look for me under your bootsoles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,…

— Walt Whitman

A journalist once asked me what I would like my epitaph to be and I said I think I would like it…

— Paul Eddington

We love the old saints, missionaries, martyrs, and reformers. Our Luthers, Bunyans, Wesleys and Asburys, etc... We will write their biographies, reverence…

— Aiden Wilson Tozer

“I hope that the epitaph of the human race when the world ends will be: Here perished a species which lived to…

— Lyndsay Faye

“One of the great Confederate combat leaders, General John B. Gordon, had sat at his horse and spoken farewell to his men.…

— Carl Sandberg

“Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, and Father…

— Thomas Jefferson

I knew if I waited around long enough something like this would happen.

— George Bernard Shaw

Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.

— Samuel Johnson

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

— John Dryden

Let my epitaph be, "Here lies Joseph, who failed in everything he undertook."

— Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

I always thought I'd like my own tombstone to be blank. No epitaph, and no name. Well, actually, I'd like it to…

— Andy Warhol

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

— Cyril Connolly

If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: 'It seemed like a good…

— Rebecca West

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

— Robert Emmet

What seems to us but dim funeral tapers may be heaven's distant lamps.

— Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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

— Paul Newman

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

— Paulo Coelho

“Here lies clever Trevor; Truth was not his friend. He lied until the end; Now, he’ll lie forever.”

— Esther Spurrill Jones

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD…

— Kurt Vonnegut

I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure, Sky-bound was the mind, earth-bound the body rests. [Kepler's epitaph]

— Johannes Kepler

Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas, Ease after warre, death after life, does greatly please.

— Joseph Conrad

If I reprehend anything in this world, it is the use of my oracular tongue, and a nice derangement of epitaphs!

— Richard Brinsley Sheridan