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Guide to Epitaphs

Why Choose Your Own Epitaph?

An epitaph can be whatever you want: a goodbye to your loved ones, a greeting to future visitors, a statement of values, a last laugh. Choosing one ahead of time can be off-putting, but if you’re able, it’s always worth it. Everyone deserves a say in how they’re remembered.

Of course, you’d also save your loved ones a difficult decision after you’re gone. It may even kickstart other self-reflection and end-of-life planning: What kind of memorial service do you want? Do you prefer burial, cremation, donating your body to science, something else? What do you want to prioritize while you’re alive?

How Do You Choose an Epitaph?

It’s not easy to narrow a life down to one snippet of text. Whether you’re choosing your own epitaph or someone else’s, here are some common considerations:

The Person

What drives them? What are their interests and accomplishments? What relationships were most important to them? An epitaph doesn’t have to encapsulate everything about a person to be meaningful. Zeroing in on one or two details about them can be just as impactful.

Form

Excerpts from books, poems, and songs will highlight the art they love. Scripture honors their faith. A direct quote from them captures a memory. Sometimes just a list of adjectives does the trick.

Spatial Constraints

The size of your monument will affect how long your epitaph can be. Most lowercase letters have to be 5/8″ tall at minimum to be blastable. Intricate fonts need more room than others.

Examples

  • Gone fishing
  • Camping with Jesus
  • Returned to sender
  • Dad’s motto was “the devil made me do it,” we loved him anyway
  • So many men, so little time
  • So many women, so little time
  • Don’t tell me where to park
  • The shell is here but the nut is gone
  • I did it my way

  • Till we shall meet and never part
  • We lived together in happiness, we rest together in peace
  • As always, right beside my cowboy
  • Nothing can ever take away the love a heart holds dear
  • The hours part us, but they bring us together again
  • Hopeful hearts will find forever roses underneath the snow
  • There is a garden in her face where the roses and lilacs blow
  • Love you to the stars!
  • It’s not where you go in life, it’s who you have beside you
  • Just whisper my name in your heart and I will be there
  • I’ll hold you in my heart until I can hold you in my arms
  • The saddened hearts were healed in knowing the pain of life is over and the beauty of the soul is revealed
  • She walked in beauty
  • Of generous heart and of beautiful spirit

  • Tears are often a telescope by which men see far into heaven
  • A life of beauty and service
  • He saw beauty and painted it with a master’s hand
  • Lord, thank you for a beautiful life
  • Where faith is there is no loss, where love is there is no separation
  • It broke our hearts to lose you, but you didn’t go alone. For parts of us went with you the day God called you home.
  • The Cross leads generations on
  • A day of duty done, a day of rest began!
  • I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith
  • Bone of my bones
  • All things change… but God remains
  • An angel visited the green earth and took a flower away
  • My dear, be still and slumber, jolly angels guard your bed
  • Our little me has gone home to be an angel, a chosen bud in the Master’s bouquet

  • Death is not a foe, but an inevitable adventure!
  • Here lies an atheist. All dress up and no place to go.
  • The record shows I took the blows, I faced it all and I stood tall, I did it my way!
  • Life is too short no to have a little umbrella in your drink
  • “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” – Dr. Seuss
  • I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and you.
  • She made our nest the best
  • Glad you stopped by
  • What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven in the lives of others
  • We dropped our tears in the ocean, they day you find them is the day we’ll stop missing you
  • Despite his claims, was not immortal
  • Anything but ordinary
  • A spoiler of dogs

  • He has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much
  • Live their years with grace, charm and spirit
  • Your love will never be forgotten
  • As a family we are never apart. Loving memories keep you alive in our hearts.
  • When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure
  • Life’s work well done
  • A life of deeds, not years
  • To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die
  • A life of beauty, goodness and love
  • Your words were kindness, your deeds were love
  • Your devotion to your family is our blessing
  • We are better having known you

  • Beloved mother, you will rise a beautiful star in paradise
  • She added to the art of living
  • She gave her heart to her family
  • She graced her years with courage, strength and truth
  • Always loving, always loved

  • He graced his years with courage, strength, and truth
  • His courage, his smile, his grace gladdened the hearts of those who have the privilege of loving him
  • Your patient courage is a beloved memory
  • He gave his heart to his family
  • A loving father, tender and kind, what a beautiful memory you left behind

  • A little soul takes wings
  • Awaiting the touch of a little hand and the smile of a little face
  • Budded on earth to bloom in heaven
  • A mother’s love, like the sun, cannot go out
  • Go lovely rose that lived its little hour
  • Precious memories of a little angel
  • To be a child is to know the fun of living, to have a child is to know the beauty of life