Top 117 Epitaph Quotes & Sayings

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

That might be my epitaph: 'It wasn't as bad as I thought. Here lies Phil Lord.'

Wit is the epitaph of an emotion.

Can't' will be the epitaph of the British Empire - unless we wake up in time.

If I were to have an epitaph, I'd want it to read, 'She did stuff.'

Let no man write my epitaph. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.

Epitaph for a dead waiter - God finally caught his eye.

[On an epitaph for herself:] Under here, we're all equal.

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

Live so that when the final summons comes you will leave something more behind you than an epitaph on a tombstone or an obituary in a newspaper.

I know it will be the thing that'll be my epitaph: They won't say anything about my movies, I'll be this guy in a rubber mask.

[Epitaph:] Involved in a plot.

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

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

And were an epitaph to be my story I'd have a short one ready for my own. I would have written of me on my stone: I had a lover's quarrel with the world.

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

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

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.'

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 all my life, but working gave me no time for it.

[Suggesting an epitaph for herself:] This is on me.

What a measly epitaph that would make: 'They saw it coming, but hadn't the wit to stop it happening.'

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

I have but one request to ask at my departure from this world; it is-THE CHARITY OF ITS SILENCE. Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace, and my name remain uninscribed, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written.

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.

"Let there be no inscription upon my tomb. Let no man write my epitaph. No man can write my epitaph. I am here ready to die. I am not allowed to vindicate my character; and when I am prevented from vindicating myself, let no man dare calumniate me. Let my character and motives repose in obscurity and peace, till other times and other men can do them justice.

My epitaph? My epitaph will be, 'Curiosity did not kill this cat'.

Every sin is a mistake, as well as a wrong; and the epitaph for the sinner is, "Thou fool!"

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

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

...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.

'Curiosity never killed this cat’ — that’s what I’d like as my epitaph.

I have only one ambition left: I should like to have a good epitaph.

One of the lines from my books is about having respect for different minds, and if I had to have an epitaph at this point in my life, that would be it.

An epitaph is a belated advertisement for a line of goods that have been permanently discontinued.

An epitaph is a belated advertisement for a line of goods that has been discontinued.

Lots of people can have girlfriends. But I can throw around guitars onstage! That'll be my epitaph: 'He never had a girlfriend, but you should've seen him smash a Les Paul!'

When I die, my epitaph should read: She Paid the Bills. That's the story of my private life.

Epitaph is the place to be! They were all longtime, true fans of New Found Glory and they understand us.

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

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.

The first character that will be on my epitaph is Monisha from 'Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai.'

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

Will Truman will be on my epitaph, but as an actor, I have to challenge myself.

If I were to write my epitaph... Epitaph? Hey, shut-up Albert. I'd want to be remembered as someone who loved his sport and tried his best.

Let no man write my epitaph... When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then shall my character be vindicated, then may my epitaph be written.

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

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

One shouldn't write one's own epitaph. I hope people will remember me as one who did her best - and who wasn't an anachronism.

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.

Fame itself is but an epitaph; as late, as false, as true.

To waste! You are unknown and unwanted, save by me. This, because you are fairly adept at the various embalming arts and you occasionally compose a clever epitaph.

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

I wrote my epitaph: He started out a particle and ended up a wave.

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

His epitaph: Who, by vigor of mind almost divine, the motions and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, and the tides of the seas first demonstrated.

The term 'epitaph' itself means 'something to be spoken at a burial or engraved upon a tomb.' When an epitaph is a poem written for a tomb, and appears in a book, we are aware that we are not reading it in its proper form: we are reading a reproduction. The original of the epitaph is the tomb itself, with its words cut into the stone.

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth.

Those who say that life is worth living at any cost have already written an epitaph of infamy, for there is no cause and no person that they will not betray to stay alive.

[Requesting her epitaph to read this way:] Excuse my dust.

And the end of the fight is tombstone white with the name of the late deceased, and the epitaph drear, "A Fool lies here who tried to hustle the East."