Tombstone Quotes & Sayings

Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ and author of the Four Spiritual Laws chose three words for his tombstone: "slave for Jesus". — Kyle Idleman

It is brutal. Only I never could see the sense in having folks look at your tombstone and say, 'He was a man who didn't believe in violence, He's a good man ... and dead. — Louis L'Amour

The good and the beautiful is not forgotten; it lives in legend and in song. — Hans Christian Andersen

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

Having 'Oscar winner' on your tombstone is a great thing. — George Clooney

James Joyce buried himself in his great work. _Finnegan's Wake_ is his monument and his tombstone. A dead end. — Edward Abbey

Having read the inscriptions upon the tombstones of the great and little cemeteries, Wang Peng advised the Emperor to kill all the living and resurrect the dead. — Paul Eldridge

A genius of comedy His talent brought joy and Laughter to all the world. — Oliver Hardy

"The Entertainer" He did it all. — Sammy Davis Jr.

He thought himself awake when he was already asleep. He saw the stars above his face, whirling on their silent and sleepless axis, and the leaves of the trees rustling against them, and he heard small changes in the grass. These little noises of footsteps and soft-fringed wing-beats and stealthy bellies drawn over the grass blades or rattling against the bracken at first frightened or interested him, so that he moved to see what they were (but never saw), then soothed him, so that he no longer cared to see what they were but trusted them to be themselves, and finally left him altogether as he swam down deeper and deeper, nuzzling into the scented turf, into the warm ground, into the unending waters under the earth. — T.H. White

Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone;
Character is what the angels say about you before the throne of God — William Hersey Davis

I sometimes joke that when I die, my tombstone will say, 'Here lies the guy who hired Jonathan Ive,' — Robert Brunner

Just follow my lead,' I said. 'It'll be fun.'

'Please,' Sam begged, 'don't let those words be carved on my tombstone. — Rick Riordan

The Virginia Statue for Religious Freedom ranked for Jefferson as one of the three achievements worthy of gracing his tombstone (the Declaration of Independence and the University of Virginia were the other two). — Matthew Stewart

Once upon a time ...
... as a fair maiden lay weeping upon a cold tombstone, her heartfelt desire was suddenly made real before her: tall, broad of shoulder, attired in gleaming silver and gold, her knight in shining armor had come to rescue his damsel in distress ... — Jude Deveraux

Pard, we will meet again in the Happy Hunting Ground To part no more, Goodbye — Wild Bill Hickok

You only live once. You don't want your tombstone to read: 'Played it Safe.' — Rosario Dawson

I used to have nightmares that they would put 'He played Ted' on my tombstone. — Keanu Reeves

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea ... — Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Do not save your loving speeches
For your friends till they are dead;
Do not write them on their tombstones,
Speak them rather now instead. — Anna Mickelson

Memory, in widow's weeds, with naked feet stands on a tombstone. — Aubrey De Vere

On my tombstone, I really hope that someday they will write: He was true but partial ... — Ken Wilber

Written on her tombstone: "I told you I was sick. — Erma Bombeck

The Man of a Thousand Voices — Mel Blanc

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. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tombs of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great Day when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together — Joseph Addison

When Harper was in among the stones she could see brass plaques screwed into the towering pillars of granite. One listed the names of seventeen boys who had died in the mud of eastern France during the First World War. Another listed the names of thirty-four boys who had died on the beaches of western France during the Second. Harper thought all tombstones should be this size, that the small blocks to be found in most graveyards did not even begin to express the sickening enormity of losing a virgin son, thousands of miles away, in the muck and cold. You needed something so big you felt it might topple over and crush you. — Joe Hill

Satire does not look pretty upon a tombstone. — Charles Lamb

Then on your tombstone, where you only get a little bit of space to sum up your life, some wax-faced creep chisels a set of meaningless numbers instead of poetry or a secret love or the name of your favorite candy.
In the end, all you get is a few words. — Scott Nicholson

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

If you're going to sit on someone's tombstone, you might as well know something about them, right? — Nicholas Sparks

Who's afraid of the big, bad buildings? Everyone, because there are so many things about gigantism that we just don't know. The gamble of triumph or tragedy at this scale - and ultimately it is a gamble - demands an extraordinary payoff. The trade center towers could be the start of a new skyscraper age or the biggest tombstones in the world. — Ada Louise Huxtable

The Doc Holliday of legend is a gambler and gunman who appears out of nowhere in 1881, arriving in Tombstone with a bad reputation and a hooker named Big Nose Kate. — Mary Doria Russell

What is there flattering, amusing, or edifying in their carving your name on a tombstone, then time rubbing off the inscription together with the gilding? — Anton Chekhov

You could spend hours following the trail of a single dispute, through smoking battlefields of interlinked comments threads and screen shots and blogs where the message "this post has been deleted by its author" stands like a tombstone over the grave of the one witness who can tell you what really happened. I know, because I've wandered extensively over this blasted heath in the past couple of weeks. — Laura Miller

On my tombstone, I want written, 'He never did 'Love Boat! — Orson Welles

Paintings, like tombstones, will last a good five hundred years, well into twenty or thirty generations. — Robert Genn

I've finally gotten to the bottom of things. — Dorothy Parker

Here lies Walter Winchell in the dirt he loved so well. — Walter Winchell

It had been a long fifteen years. So much had changed in both their lives. Both hearts somehow sadly hardened. "Let us just make it through," Claire whispered her desperate plea. It was her only prayer, one she said over and over again. An almost cynical laugh erupted out of her as she turned one last time to say goodbye to her father's tombstone. That was her prayer? That was all she could come up with to say to God? Then so be it. — Laura Aranda

He would stab his best friend for the sake of writing an epigraph on his tombstone. — Oscar Wilde

But I am greedy for life. I do too much of everything all the time. Suddenly one day my heart will fail. The Iron Crab will get me as it got my father. But I am not afraid of The Crab. At least I shall have died from an honourable disease. Perhaps they will put on my tombstone. 'This Man Died from Living Too Much'. — Ian Fleming

Write 'judge of beautiful women' on my tombstone. I'd be quite happy. — Nigel Barker

If I thought you weren't my friend, I just don't think I could bear it. — Doc Holliday

My closest friend, who died not long ago, is buried near Marx's grave in Highgate cemetery, so I see the gaggle of admirers laying roses at the foot of his tombstone regularly. I have never been tempted to leave flowers there myself. Great theories, shame about the practice. Marx did many things. But inventing class was not one of them. — Alastair Campbell

The tombstone over the grave of the conscience always reads: "Human Nature". — Stefan Molyneux

It sounded like a good idea at the time, which is probably going to be on my tombstone - along with a catty footnote about poor impulse control. But — Cherie Priest

It was a quiet day in Tombstone. — Larry McMurtry

I had A Lover's Quarrel With The World Robert Lee Frost (Old Bennington Cemetery, Bennington, Vermont) Our Darling Eva We Love You. — Eva Gabor

When I go, if there's a tombstone it will say, She doesn't give in. She doesn't give up. And she never takes no for an answer. — Doris Roberts

Eve: "We nearly got killed over ice cream."
Shane: "Another thing I don't want on my tombstone."
Claire: "You have others?"
Shane: "*first finger* I thought it wasn't loaded. *second finger* Hand me a match so I can check the gas tank. *third finger* Killed over ice cream. — Rachel Caine

What would you rather have?"
"Cheeseburger and a small fry. Coke classic. Better yet, dope classic."
"Sure. I'll take a milkshake. What's the special flavor this week, chocolate Jack Daniels?"
"Strawberry scotch."
"Stick one of those paper umbrellas in mine."
"Shove a syringe in mine. And a plastic tombstone. RIP, baby. He was born a rock star. He died a junkie."
"Rock in peace."
[...]
"He wanted the world and lost his soul. [...] Sold it all for rock and roll. Lost his heart in a needle. Found his life in the grave. The road to hell is paved in marijuana leaves. Now he rocks in peace. — L.F. Blake

I had a slab of German chocolate cake the size of a child's tombstone. Ralph — Elif Batuman

Hatred is a heavy burden. It sinks the heart deep in the breast, and lies like a tombstone on all joys. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

On my tombstone it will say: 'I tried everything - nothing was easy.' — Rita Rudner

I loved Stand By Me. I loved Tombstone. Give men a little credit. Maybe we'll be able to humanize women more and see more of their depth as people. — Evan Rachel Wood

Tact,' Lymond said, 'is the name you should have upon your tombstone. — Dorothy Dunnett

He calls me desperate (on my tombstone)
I hope poetic license will allow: HUNGRY — Eli Coppola

A thousand times over, the death knell of the Bible has been sounded, the funeral procession formed, the inscription cut on the tombstone, and committal read. But somehow the corpse never stays put. — Bernard Ramm

When they bury me in a church and chuck earth on my grave, I'd like the words 'Well, at least he tried' engraved on my tombstone. — Steven Morrissey

It's not a bad thing fighting for equality and helping the poor. It's not a bad thing to have on your professional tombstone: 'He believed in equality and he helped the poor.' — Joe Jamail

With God in the Joy of Beauty and Youth — Barbara La Marr

She did it the hard way. — Bette Davis

At Rest An American Soldier And Defender of the Constitution. — Jefferson Davis

Had I to carve an inscription on my tombstone I would ask for none other than "The Individual." — Soren Kierkegaard

What's fame, after all? It can be what someone writes on your tombstone. — Peter Duncan

In loving memory from the Family. — Bugsy Siegel

On my tombstone just write, 'The sorest loser that ever lived.' — Earl Weaver

When I was younger, I loved graveyards. They weren't spooky so much as mysterious. Each tombstone another story to uncover. Another life to learn about.
Now that I'm older - I won't say how old - I hate graveyards. The only life - or rather death - I see in the tombstones is my own. — Pseudonymous Bosch

I must say, some are not very beautifully made. They're coffee-table books for people who drink alcohol. I have nothing against coffee-table books as long as they are well done. They must not look like gravestones on a table. Sometimes they are too big, they come in boxes and things like this. No, a book has to be easy to open and you don't have to be a bodybuilder to lift it. I like books I can read in bed. Those big tombstones would kill me. — Karl Lagerfeld

If the Confederacy falls, there should be written on its tombstone: Died of a theory. — Jefferson Davis

Left love behind many years ago. Now it rests under a cross in the cemetery in Tombstone. — Franco Nero

I have my tombstone already. A tombstone company in the East gave it to me when I jumped Snake Canyon. My plot is in Montana. — Evel Knievel

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

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

Well, Alexander thought, any minute now, one of the girls he had carelessly discarded was going to come by the barracks with a gun and blow his brains out and on his tombstone the epitaph would read, Here lies Alexander, who couldn't remember the name of any girl he had fucked. — Paullina Simons

It was supposed to say "Great Artist" on my tombstone, but if I died right now it would say "such a good teacher/daughter/friend" instead; and what I really want to shout, and want in big letters on that grave, too, is F*** YOU ALL. — Claire Messud

When I am dead and buried, on my tombstone I would like to have it written, 'I have arrived.' Because when you feel that you have arrived, you are dead. — Yul Brynner

You're both perfectly all right," she informed them. "And we will get Aurimere back, and our magic back, and our town back, and then we will have everything we need."

"We have some important stuff already," Ash offered tentatively.

Lillian frowned. "What do you mean?"

Jared surrendered himself to the strangeness of this situation, sank back onto the pillows himself with his head near Lillian's hip, and sighed heavily to attract his aunt's attention. "He wants to know you love him more than that stupid house."

"It is a very nice house," Aunt Lillian said, sounding offended. "Your ancestors are buried in the crypt of that house."

"Sure. Okay. We'll get our lovely creepy house back. When they bury me in that crypt, I want 'Jared, very inbred, deeply uncomfortable about it' on my tombstone. — Sarah Rees Brennan

[When asked what he wants for his tombstone epitaph]
Since I'm an atheist, and have no belief whatsoever in life after death, I couldn't care less
it's not like it'll have any impact on me, since by definition I will be completely extinguished. I guess if someone twisted my arm and forced me to provide an epitaph, it would be 'Don't forget.' Sound advice ... — Richard Bartle

As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape of the letters on my father's, gave me an odd idea that he was a square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character and turn of the inscription, "Also Georgiana Wife of the Above", I drew a childish conclusion that my mother was freckled and sickly. — Charles Dickens

Steve Job's tombstone is flatter than anybody else's. — Niko Stoifberg

I will not be back after these messages — Merv Griffin

Many years ago I sent an old, beloved jacket to a cleaner, the Sycamore Cleaners. It was a leather jacket covered in Guinness and blood and marmalade, one of those jobs ... and it came back with a little note pinned to it, and on the note it said, 'It distresses us to return work which is not perfect.' So that will do for me. That can go on my tombstone. — Peter O'Toole

That's the one for my tombstone ... Here lies David Byrne. Why the big suit? — David Byrne

I didn't think while I drew. The pencil flew across the page making marks, almost as if it had a mind of its own. Often times I didn't know what it was going to be until it was completed. The cemetery was still with only a few birds calling off in the distance from time to time. When I finished I was not at all surprised by what had taken form on my paper. It was a portrait of my dad. He was sitting behind the tombstone, using it as a desk, his laptop open in front of him. He wore a peaceful smile. I smiled, too, as another tear fell. — Marysue G. Hobika

I am a worker, a tombstone mason, anxious to pleace averyburies and jully glad when Christmas comes his once ayear. — James Joyce

I'm not convinced that your date of death is the date carved on your tombstone. Most people die long before that. We start dying when we have nothing worth living for. And we don't really start living until we find something worth dying for. Ironically, discovering something worth dying for is what makes life worth living. — Mark Batterson

It was on the to-do list, but you know to-do lists. They get longer and longer until you might as well just carve the last items on your tombstone. Do the dishes. — Catherynne M Valente

Every person has a legacy. You may not know what your impact is, and it may not be something that you can write on your tombstone, but every person has an impact on this world. — Dara Horn

The burden of suffering seems a tombstone hung about our necks, while in reality it is only the weight which is necessary to keep down the diver while he is hunting for pearls. — Jean Paul

The one thing I would hope would go on my tombstone is, 'I made my parents proud.' — Roger Goodell

I'm a good girl. I'm a nice girl. I'm a straight-A, strait-laced, good daughter, good career girl, and I never stole anybody's boyfriend and I never ran out on a girlfriend, and I put up with my parents' shit and brother's shit and I'm not a girl anyhow, I'm over forty fucking years old, and I'm good at my job and I'm great with kids and I held my mother's hand when she died,after four years of holding her hand while she was dying, and I speak to my father ever day on the telephone
every day, mind you, and what kind of weather do you have on your side of the river, because here it's pretty gray and a big muggy too? It was supposed to say "Great Artist" on my tombstone, but if I died right now it would say "Such a good teacher/daughter/friend" instead; and what I really want to shout, and want in big letters on that grave, too, is FUCK YOU ALL. — Claire Messud

There occurred to me the simple epitaph which, when I am no more, I intend to have inscribed on my tombstone. It was this:
He was a man who acted from the best motives. There is one born every minute. — P.G. Wodehouse

Human beings have got a lot, of good, noble impulses inside them, and most people want to be good and do more good than they do evil. Hell, we've had nuclear weapons for years and nothing's happened. That in itself seems to be a miracle. If American president pushes the button, or somebody pushes the button in Russia, or somebody pushes it in Costa Rica, they can put a big tombstone in outer space that says, "We gave it a good try." Because we have. — Stephen King

Life is pure farce from beginning to end, with a little
black comedy thrown in for shade. If it was anything
else, mankind would have stuck his collective head in
the gas oyen years ago. No one could tolerate seventy
years of tragedy. When I die - probably of cancer -
Jane has prornised to put on my tombstone: "Here
lies Anne Cattrell who laughed her way through it.
The joke was on her but at least she knew it." (The Ice House) — Minette Walters

One gives way to the temptation, only to rise from it again, afterwards, with a great eagerness to reestablish one's dignity, as if it were a tombstone to place on the grave of one's shame, and a monument to hide and sign the memory of our weaknesses. Everybody's in the same case. Some folks haven't the courage to say certain things, that's all!
THE STEP-DAUGHTER: All appear to have the courage to do them though. — Luigi Pirandello

When the weather's nice, my parents go out quite frequently and stick a bunch of flowers on old Allie's grave. I went with them a couple of times, but I cut it out. In the first place, I don't enjoy seeing him in that crazy cemetery. Surrounded by dead guys and tombstones and all. It wasn't too bad when the sun was out, but twice - twice - we were there when it started to rain. It was awful. It rained on his lousy tombstone, and it rained on the grass on his stomach. It rained all over the place. All the visitors that were visiting the cemetery started running like hell over to their cars. That's what nearly drove me crazy. All the visitors could get in their cars and turn on their radios and all and then go someplace nice for dinner - everybody except Allie. I couldn't stand it. I know it's only his body and all that's in the cemetery, and his soul's in Heaven and all that crap, but I couldn't stand it anyway. I just wished he wasn't there. — J.D. Salinger

The epitaphs on tombstones of a great many people should read: Died at thirty, and buried at sixty. — Nicholas Murray Butler

Publicity in women is detestable. Anonymity runs in their blood. The desire to be veiled still possesses them. They are not even now as concerned about the health of their fame as men are, and, speaking generally, will pass a tombstone or a signpost without feeling an irresistible desire to cut their names on it. — Virginia Woolf