EPITAPH'S

ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE BELL MAY TOLL
DON'T GET YOUR SELF IN A STEW
AS LONG AS YOU CAN HEAR THE CLANG
YOU KNOW IT'S NOT FOR YOU!
- - - - - Olivija said that !

CLICK ON TOMBSTONE TO PLAY GAME OF NIM SKULLS

Behold and see
As you pass by.

Where you are now,
 So once was I.

 As I am now,
 So you shall be.

 Prepare for death,
And follow me.
This is probably a fairly well known Epitaph. I happened to find it on a gravestone which was
                lying in the underbrush in a field behind a house in Brooksville, ME.
On the grave of Ezekial Aikle in East Dalhousie Cemetery,
       Nova Scotia:
                    Here lies
                    Ezekial Aikle
                    Age 102
                    The Good
                    Die Young.
 Anna Hopewell's grave in Enosburg Falls, Vermont
has an epitaph that sounds like something
from a Three Stooges movie:
           Here lies the body of our Anna
                    Done to death by a banana
                    It wasn't the fruit that laid her low
                   But the skin of the thing that made her go.
    In a London, England cemetery:
                    Ann Mann
                    Here lies Ann Mann,
                    Who lived an old maid
                    But died an old Mann.
                    Dec. 8, 1767
  In a Ribbesford, England, cemetery:
                    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.
Playing with names in a Ruidoso, New Mexico, cemetery:
           Here lies
                    Johnny Yeast
                    Pardon me
                    For not rising.
 In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:
           Here lays Butch,
                    We planted him raw.
                    He was quick on the trigger,
                    But slow on the draw.
Memory of an accident in a Uniontown, Pennsylvania
        cemetery:
           Here lies the body
                    of Jonathan Blake
                    Stepped on the gas
                    Instead of the brake.
Lester Moore was a Wells, Fargo Co. station agent for Naco,
        Arizona in the cowboy days of the 1880's. He's buried in
        the Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona:
                   Here lies Lester Moore
                   Four slugs from a .44
                   No Les No More.
 A lawyer's epitaph in England: 
           Here lies an honest lawyer, 
 Sir John Strange
                    And that is Strange.
Someone determined to be anonymous in Stowe, Vermont:
                    I was somebody.
                    Who, is no business
                    Of yours.
  John Penny's epitaph in the Wimborne, England, cemetery:
           Reader if cash thou art
                    In want of any
                    Dig 4 feet deep
                    And thou wilt find a Penny.
  More fun with names with Owen Moore in Battersea, London,
        England:
           Gone away
                    Owin' more
                    Than he could pay.
On Margaret Daniels grave at Hollywood Cemetery Richmond,
        Virginia:
                   She always said her feet were killing her
                   but nobody believed her.
In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England:
           On the 22nd of June
                    - Jonathan Fiddle -
                     Went out of tune.
   In a Georgia cemetery:
                    "I told you I was sick!"
  In a Thurmont, Maryland, cemetery:
           Here lies an Atheist
                    All dressed up
                    And no place to go
  Someone in Winslow, Maine didn't like Mr. Wood:
           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.
 The grave of Ellen Shannon in Girard, Pennsylvania is
        almost a consumer tip:

Who was fatally burned
                    March 21, 1870
                    by the explosion of a lamp
                    filled with "R.E. Danforth's
                   Non-Explosive Burning Fluid"
  On a grave from the 1880's in Nantucket, Massachusetts:
           Under the sod and under the trees
                    Lies the body of Jonathan Pease.
                    He is not here, there's only the pod:
                    Pease shelled out and went to God.
   Oops! Harry Edsel Smith of Albany, New York:
                    Born 1903--Died 1942
                    Looked up the elevator shaft to see if
                    the car was on the way down. It was.
Celebration for Leo Buscaglia... June 28, 1998
 University of Southern California - Los Angeles 
Leo said in lectures, and on many other occasions, that he had already written his epitath. He said he wanted these words on his tombstone:
        HERE LIES LEO, WHO DIED LIVING!
I am happy to report that that is exactly the way he ended 
his life ... living it with a passion!
 From the Pray Family:
 my great uncle Mike used to say.
Something to the effect of...

Where ever you are, don't hold your wind.
That is what was, the death of him.
Mark Twain's quotations
Epitaphs are cheap, and they do a poor chap a world of good after he is dead, especially if he had hard luck while he was
alive. I wish they were used more.
- A Curious Dream
From:john walker in Henderson, NV
        Rosemary Dillon <nosmoky@WEBTV.NET>
Okay here's what they can put on my stone and   I wish I could send it
to all the relatives

Here lies Rosemary Dillon
She told you she was sick!

Rosemary Dillon from Chicago
   From: 
        Kay Richardson <NANA369@AOL.COM>
 
 

I read about one that I would like to "borrow"
Returned to Sender
Kay
WV
From:
        "JUANITA RIVERA DE VEGA" <liojen@atenas.com>

HERE LIES JUANITA
PISSED AS CAN BE
CAUSE INSTEAD OF BEIN HERE
SHE'D RATHER BE AT THE BEACH

JUANITA
      From:
            tim braley <timid@PENN.COM>

  Here lies Tim who died quite thin
  Twas blown away by a northwest wind
  So if perchance you hap too see
  What seems a kite it might be me!!!!!

                          Tim in Pa
          From:
        <H5122@AOL.COM>
Here is what I would write for my epitaph:

           NOW HERE LIES HELEN,
             WHO HATED TO SHOUT,
             BUT WHENEVER SHE  SPOKE,
           SHE PUT HER FOOT IN HER MOUTH.

      Amen.
      Great idea, Boo
      This is for  today, tomorrow?  hey who knows????
 From:
        bonnie anderson <fbanderson@MAIL.USINTERNET.COM>

here lies bonnie, who was never bored.
when she got to heaven, she said "dear Lord".
bored i don't ever want to get.
so please connect me to the internet.

bon in mn.
 
From:
            "D, Neuberger" <dneuberger@mindspring.com>

When asked how he was
He would say I'm still vertical
So we planted him
Plumb

Damian
born and raised in PA
 From:
            Don Lore <folklore@USLINK.NET>
 From Don in MN

Here lies Don,
Gone but not forgotten.
He really meant well,
though his jokes were rotten.
From:
        Clement Walter <walclement@UPLOGON.COM>
I like this idea.
Here's my epitaph

Janice's gone to meet her Maker
Enjoyed this life, but glad He'd taken her!

Janice in the Up of MI
    From:
            Olivija & Boo <epitaph@Olivija.com>
Now here lies Olivija
with nothing to do
just wishing you all would
quit saying "boo-who?"
Your friend in Pa.
The Boo Mistress,
Olivija
From:
        collins <lane@IME.NET>
Since my plans are for cremation.

Roberta's ashes are spread over the sea
Please don't disturb, just let her be
From:
        kim Bowra <Kimb@PERTHPCUG.ORG.AU>

It wasnt the cough that carried him off.
It was the coffin they carried hin off in.

       Kim. in cold west australia
From:
        Sig Zeitlin <SIGZ@AOL.COM>

Here lies SigZ
He had COPD
He had to sign off
Due to a grave cough
But went the extra mile
And died with a smile

Also for the record book, change mine to:

SigZ - COPD
This is all thats left of me.

Keep smilin 'cause when you do, others do too!!!
 From:
MARCIA A MCGRATH
<WERDNA@prodigy.net>

This was a great idea.

Here lies Marcia
free from stress
Now please just
let her rest.

Marcia NY

Thanks everyone for your concerns, prayers etc.

 
From:
        Joanne Hickman <PomoJoJo@AOL.COM>
 My mother who is 80 has had  COPD for many years.  Her nickname is "Penny".  She has requested that this inscription be put  on the container of her
cremated remains:

   "A Penny urned,
         Is a Penny saved"

Joanne in Mn
From: 
        Joanne Hickman <PomoJoJo@AOL.COM>

Yesterday, I posted the urn inscription chosen by my mother, Penny.  In that, and many other things, she is, and always has been, a hard act to follow.  I do look a lot like her and also have emphysema so, if I am "niched" near her,
I'd choose this:

       "Dead-ringer"

          Joanne in Mn
 From:
 "Jane Gillette" <jsgillette@worldnet.att.net>

Will work on an epitaph...

Here lies Gillette, if she was so sharp what is
she doing here?

More later....j
 From: 
        <Mlstocke@AOL.COM>
 

I GUESS I'M HAVING THE WORST DAY
 From: 
             "THOMAS E. BARNES" <tbar1@worldnet.att.net>

 here is what I would write for my epitaph:

Here Lies Tom B
Short on talk
Long Philosophy
But willing to walk the walk
 From: 
        "Sheila Shiel" <GREMLIN39@prodigy.net>

"She did not die,
  She is a Rainbow in the sky,
  Flying High
  No Need to Say Good-Bye"
From: 
        Veneta Joyce Clarida <illivjc@midwest.net>

 " I think perhapes my soal purpose in life was to be a warning to others." 
 Vene
 From: 
        "Patricia A Lucas" <PATLUCAS1@prodigy.net>
Here lies Pat
     Who all of her life fought fat
    Now, finally she's lean
    Or so it would seem
    But no one knows
     where  Pat is at
 From: 
        Sandy Peplinski <QUEENSAS98@AOL.COM>
Sandy Pep's now at ease,
Ashes, Ashes
Floating on the breeze....
From:
Marion (strstrk) Stover<strstrk_@webtv.net >
Here should be writ my epitaph...,
I`d much rather laugh
and share my autograph.

I might have to follow
To where my loved ones were sent.
But I `m not gonna do it
Till I know which way they went.
 From:
        Ken Jolly <KGJOLLY@AOL.COM>

 Highway 60 was built by the side of his grave and the
many years later the grave was moved to make room for the widening of the highway. The inscription was this:

Friend, stop to think as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you will be
Prepare now for eternity.

This expresses my thoughts very well.
Ken Jolly of KY
From:
            Karen Fee <cowgirlkaz@ATT.NET>
I will see if this sounds like me.......

Five's the number of luck she'd say
Came into her life on a winter's day

She stayed until the final round
Softly saying.....I'm not down

Lift me up so I might see....
Not tears but smiles out there for me....

Well not to bad if I say so myself....I want smiles.....
From:
        Helen Cornett <HLC2803@AOL.COM>

I always thougt I would like:
"She did her best, Now let her rest."

I am glad someone started this some of these are quite nice.----Helen from Ky.
 From:
Anne Shea <ashea@TOGETHER.NET>

Here lies Anne Shea despite looking healthy as others thought she did she was really sick.

Anne in Vermont
From: Janet Macdonald
<Zanyinindy@AOL.COM>

Here Lies Jan
Grandmother of Seven
Rejoice for Her
She Resides in Heaven

Jan in Indy
From:  Ruby Sandler
<Rujos1@AOL.COM>

 RUJO
 AIN'T NO MO'
From: Sue Steinmetz
        <smetz@sonnet.com>

Don't grieve, dear friends, at my death,
For I have finally caught my breath.

 I live in California now but I grew up in Warren, Pennsylvania.
From:  Leona Izzi
<l.izzi@worldnet.att.net>

"You can't blame the old gal for trying
  To make peace with her COPD
    It didn't keep her from dying 

    Still taking Vitamin A,B,C,D,and E"
From: John Walker
 jpwteach@lvcablemodem.com

"My spirit is... innocent, eternal, and well."

john walker in Henderson (Green Valley), NV
From: John Walker 
jpwteach@lvcablemodem.com

"I'd have done better, if I'd
known (understood) better."

john walker in Henderson, NV
 From:  "Esther O'Donald" <mnpoet@mail.com>

  Oh, beat the drum less slowly, less forlornly,
Than for another's somber journey home.
Carry me out with laughter and with singing,
With jugglers and a dozen blaring horns.
.
Go find a score or two of youth, bare-chested,
To bear the feast, and, most of all, bear me
To where I entertain friends and relations
Put on a spread for all the town to see. 

Call out the neighbors, those we've seen too seldom
And dress them all in purple and in red
For I intend to be, this celebration,
The life of the party now that I'm dead.
.
From:  Arlene Rothenberg>
<Rlener1@aol.com

 "Breathin' easy....at last!"

Hugs! Arlene in NJ
.
From:  <SPRudolph@aol.com>
 

"Don't look now...I'm Right Behind You.
From: "Rod Walters" <rwalters@home.com>

Here lies the body of Daniel Gray, 
he died maintaining his right-of-way.
He was perfectly right as he sped along,
but he is just as dead as if he'd been wrong.
From: W3SID@aol.com

I knew that I would die if I took my first breath.
This just proved it.
From: W3SID@aol.com
Know but only to God
Mankind could not figure him out
Not even his wife
here i lie at last
for forty years have past
since i thought it was happiness
to find out to give him happiness 
i had to die at last
now he'll have happiness
        "Pat Ayotte" <pat1501@worldnet.att.net>
My finally wish is to be Cremated and kept in an Urn. 
Inscription being:  My soul is in Heaven, but I'm still here.
 I will never leave you so, have no fear. 
When your Soul goes to Heaven, just come on in, 
and we'll all be together forever again. 
Love Always and Forever, Mom/Grammy
"Donna Kastle" <donna@kastleconsulting.com>
 HERE LIES MISS MILLIE
 SHE REALLY COOKED GOOD CHILI
 SHE USED TO CALL IT ART
 UNTIL SHE BLEW APART!
"Jeri Jaap" <JJaap@aol.com>
I plan to be cremated, thus the Vase!

"Here lies Dottie
Born after 1940
She died with a smile on her face
But it doesn't show in the Vase!"
        "Dorothy Wenner" <dottie63470@rcn.com>

Click to visit my Journal

Mark Twain's various opinions on DEATH

 Death is the starlit strip between the companionship of yesterday and the reunion of tomorrow.
- on monument erected to Mark Twain & Ossip Gabrilowitsch
 All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"-- a strange complaint to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy of the Extraordinary Twins
 Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, knows how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great
benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world.
- The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy of the Extraordinary Twins
 The Impartial Friend: Death, the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose pity and whose peace and whose refuge are for
all -- the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved.
- Mark Twain, last written statement; Moments with Mark Twain, Paine
 The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
- Cablegram, 1897
 Pity is for the living, envy is for the dead.
- Following the Equator
 A distinguished man should be as particular about his last words as he is about his last breath. He should write them out on a
slip of paper and take the judgment of his friends on them. He should never leave such a thing to the last hour of his life, and
trust to an intellectual spurt at the last moment to enable him to say something smart with his latest gasp and launch into eternity
with grandeur.
- The Last Words of Great Men essay, 1869
 Life was not a valuable gift, but death was. Life was a fever-dream made up of joys embittered by sorrows, pleasure poisoned
by pain; a dream that was a nightmare-confusion of spasmodic and fleeting delights, ecstasies, exultations, happinesses,
interspersed with long-drawn miseries, griefs, perils, horrors, disappointments, defeats,humiliations, and despairs -- the heaviest
curse devisable by divine ingenuity; but death was sweet, death was gentle, death was kind; death healed the bruised spirit and
the broken heart, and gave them rest and forgetfulness; death was man's best friend; when man could endure life no longer,
death came and set him free.
- Letters from the Earth
 Manifestly, dying is nothing to a really great and brave man.
- Letter to Olivia Clemens, 7/1/1885 (referring to General Grant)
 How lovely is death; and how niggardly it is doled out.
- Letter to Olivia Clemens, 8/19/1896
 t is a solemn thought: dead, the noblest man's meat is inferior to pork.
- More Maxims of Mark, Johnson, 1927
 I am] not sorry for anybody who is granted the privilege of prying behind the curtain to see if there is any contrivance that is
half so shabby and poor and foolish as the invention of mortal life.
- Letter to Mrs. Fairbanks, 1894
 I think we never become really and genuinely our entire and honest selves until we are dead -- and not then until we have been
dead years and years. People ought to start dead, and they would be honest so much earlier.
- Mark Twain in Eruption
 To die one's self is a thing that must be easy, & light of consequence; but to lose a part of one's self -- well, we know how
deep that pang goes, we who have suffered that disaster, received that wound which cannot heal.
- Letter to Will Bowen, 11/4/1888
 Death, the refuge, the solace, the best and kindliest and most prized friend and benefactor of the erring, the forsaken, the old
and weary and broken of heart.
- Adam speech, 1883
 Death....a great Leveler -- a king before whose tremendous majesty shades & differences in littleness cannot be discerned --
an Alp from whose summit all small things are the same size.
- Letter to Olivia Clemens, 10/15/1871 
 Favored above Kings and Emperors is the stillborn child.
- Notebook, #42 1898 
 All people have had ill luck, but Jairus's daughter & Lazarus the worst.
- Notebook #42, 1898 
 No real estate is permanently valuable but the grave.
- Notebook #42, 1898 
 Death is so kind, so benignant, to whom he loves; but he goes by us others & will not look our way.
- Letter to W. D. Howells, 12/20/1898
 
 

INSPIRNATIONAL QUOTES ON LIFE

                       Inspirational quotes on life for memoirals, funerals and letters of condolences

 It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
                                                                   ---George S. Patton, Jr.
We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.
                                                                         ---David Sarnoff
 The most wasted of all days is one without laughter
                                                                         ---e. e. cummings
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
                                                   ---Charles Darwin
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
                                                                         ---Albert Einstein
  Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
                                                                          ---Robert Frost
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
                                                                           -Helen Keller
Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death.
                                  ---Ayn Rand. Author
 Our care should not be to have lived long as to have lived enough.
                                                                             -Seneca
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could 
not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
                                                                       -Henry David Thoreau Walden, 1854
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
                                          Teddy Roosevelt
Everyone must row with the oars he has
                                           English Proverb
God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.
                                           Elbert Hubbard
Until you know that life is interesting--and find it so--you haven't found your soul.
                                               -- Fisher, Geoffrey
It is not length of life, but depth of life.
                                       -- Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)
Be not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.
                                                -- Jones, William
To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground.
                                                                       --Covey, Stephen R.
It's the circle of life, and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, 'till we find our place, 
on the path unwinding.
                                                              --John, Elton, The Lion King
"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will 
permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past over me and through me. And when it has gone
past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
(Dune) Author:  Frank Herbert
 The greater the obstacle, the more the glory in overcoming it.
                                             -Moliere
The world is your mirror and your mind is a magnet. What you perceive is in this world is largely a reflection of your own attitudes and beliefs. Life will give you what you attract with your thoughts think, act and talk negatively and your world
will be negative. Think and act and talk with enthusiasm and you will attract positive results.
-Michael LeBeuf
To reach a great height a person needs to have great depth. -
                                           Anonymous
 People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in,
their true beauty is revealed only if there light is from within.
-Elizabeth Kubler Ross
Those who wish to sing always find a song.
-Swedish proverb
And life is what we make it, always has been, always will be.
                                         -Grandma Moses
Every person, all the events of your life are there because you have drawn them there. What you choose to do with 
them is up to you.
-Richard Bach
It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, not touched. but are felt in the heart.
                                                                      -Helen Keller
 If you want happiness for an hour take a nap. If you want happiness for a day -- go fishing.
 If you want happiness for a year -- inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime -- help someone else.
                                         -Chinese Proverb
 I believe that every human mind feels pleasure in doing good to another.
-Thomas Jefferson
If there is light in the soul, there will be beauty in the person  If there is beauty in the person, there will be harmony in the house.  If there is harmony in the house, there will be order in the nation  If there is order in the nation, there will be Peace
in the World.
                                         -Chinese Proverb
Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends! Hath he not always treasures, always friends, The good great man?
Three treasures,--love and light, And calm thoughts, regular as infants' breath; And three firm friends, more sure than 
day and night,--Himself, his Maker, and the angel Death. -
                                 Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 1772-1834.
Life let us cherish, while yet the taper glows, And the fresh flow'ret pluck ere it close;
Why are we fond of toil and care? Why choose the rankling thorn to wear?
                                      J. M. Usteri. 1763-1827.
That best portion of a good man's life,-- His little, nameless, unremembered acts Of kindness and of love.
                                   William Wordsworth.  1770-1850.
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting: The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,  And cometh from afar. Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory, do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy.
                                   William Wordsworth. 1770-1850.
It's often said that life is strange. But compared to what?
                                              Steve Forbert
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world
a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
                                           Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

These Famous Last Words are recorded in history from this international array of famous individuals.  Their concepts
 are inspirational and often comforting regarding the last moments of life.

               King: Alfred the Great ( 849-901)
   I desire to leave to the men that come after me a remembrance of me in good works.

              Poetess: Phoebe Care ( 1824-1871)
   One sweetly solemn though comes to me over and over, I am nearer to home today than I have ever been before.

    Chief of the Blackfoot:  Ispwo Mukika Crowfoot (1783-1850) A little while and I will be gone from among you, whither I cannot tell.
 From no where we came, into nowhere we go.  What is life?  It is a flash of a firefly in the night.  It is a breath of a buffalo in the winter
time.  It is th  little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

               King of Israel:  David (1015 B.C.)
 Be strong and of good courage; fear not or be dismayed; for the Lord, even  my God, will be with thee.  He will not fail thee, till
thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.

       French Diplomat:  John Baptiste Dubois (1670-1742)
  Death is a law and not a punishment.  Three things ought to console us for giving up life; the friends whom we have lost, the few
persons worth of being loved whom we leave behind us, and finally the memory of our stupidities and the assurance that they are
now going to stop.

             Inventor:  Thomas Edison (1847-1931)  Oh my, it's very beautiful over there.

             British Artist:  William Etty (1787-1849) Wonderful, wonderful this death.

Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)  Farewell, my children; remain always in the fear of the Lord.  That temptation and tribulation
which is to come is now at hand and happy shall they who persevere in the good they have begun.  I hasten to go to our Lord,
                to whose grace I recommend you.

         Theatrical Producer: Charles Frohman (d. 1915)  Why fear death?  It is the most beautiful adventure in life.

           Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)  Cheer up, children, I am all right.

               King: Alfred the Great ( 849-901)  I desire to leave to the men that come after me a remembrance of me in good works.

              Poetess: Phoebe Care ( 1824-1871)
   One sweetly solemn though comes to me over and over, I am nearer to home today than I have ever been before.

Chief of the Blackfoot:  Ispwo Mukika Crowfoot (1783-1850)  A little while and I will be gone from among you, whither I
cannot tell.  From no where we came, into nowhere we go.  What is life?  It is a flash of a firefly in the night.  It is a breath of
a buffalo in the winter time.  It is the little shadow that runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

King of Israel:  David (1015 B.C.)   Be strong and of good courage; fear not or be dismayed; for the Lord, even my God,
will be with thee.  He will not fail thee, till thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord.

French Diplomat:  John Baptiste Dubois (1670-1742) Death is a law and not a punishment.  Three things ought to console us
for giving up life; the friends whom we have lost, the few persons worth of being loved whom we leave behind us, and finally
the memory of our stupidities and the assurance that they are now going to stop.

             Inventor:  Thomas Edison (1847-1931)
                Oh my, it's very beautiful over there.

             British Artist:  William Etty (1787-1849)
                 Wonderful, wonderful this death.

Saint Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)  Farewell, my children; remain always in the fear of the Lord.  That temptation and
tribulation which is to come is now at hand and happy shall they who persevere in the good they have begun.  I hasten to
go to our Lord, to whose grace I recommend you.

         Theatrical Producer: Charles Frohman (d. 1915)  Why fear death?  It is the most beautiful adventure in life.

           Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)  Cheer up, children, I am all right.

          American Patriot:  John Hancock ( 1737-1793)  I shall look forward to a pleasant time

  French Scientist:  Pierre Simon Marquis de Laplace ( 1749-1827)  What we know is not much; what we do not know is immense.

    Artist, Philosopher, Inventor: Leonardo da Vinci ( 1452-1519)  I have offended God and mankind because my work didn't reach
the quality it should have.

Prophet: Mohammed (570-632)  Oh Allah, be it so.

Physicist:  Sir Issac Newton (1642-1727) I do not know what I seem to the world, but to myself I appear to have been like a boy
playing upon the seashore and diverting myself and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great
ocean of truth lay before me all undiscovered.

        French Artist:  Pierre Auguste Renoir ( 1841-1919) I am still progressing.

Persian Poet: Sadi (1184-1291)  Better is the sinner who hath thoughts about God, than the saint who hath only the show of sanctity.


 INSPIRNATIONAL QUOTES ON DEATH
Quotes of inspiration for eulogies, letters of condolences, and  memorials.
The gods concealBecause I could not stop for death
                                      He kindly stopped for me
                                   The carriage held but just ourselves
                                          And immortaility
                                          Emily Dickinsonfrom men the happiness of death, that they may endure life. 
                                            ---Lucan 
Death--- the last sleep?   No the final awakening. 
                                          ---Walter Scott 
I look at life as a gift of God.  Now that he wants it back I have no right to complain. 
                                          ---Joyce Cary 
Unto God, the Lord belong the issues of death. 
                                          ---Psalm 68:20 
Good men must die, but death can not kill their names 
                                           ---Proverbs 
t is good to die before one has done anything deserving death. 
                                     ---Anaxandrides 
There is a dignity in dying that doctors should not dare to deny. 
                                                                          ---Anonymous 
I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter. 
                                                                        ---Winston Churchill 
Do not seek death. Death will find you.  But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment. 
                                                                      ---Dag Hammarskjöld 
We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears. We must not demean life by standing in awe of death. 
                                                          ---David Sarnoff 
The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.
                                                                   ---Harriet Beecher Stowe, Author
God's finger touched him, and he slept.
                                                        ---Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't.
                                                 ---Richard Bach
Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player  That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.
                                                                   ---William Shakespeare
                                                                         Macbeth, 1606
Lord, now lettest now thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.
                                           ---Luke 2:29
For death begins with life's first breath And life begins at touch of death
                                         ---John Oxenham
As men, we are all equal in the presence of death
                                          ---Publilius Syrus
Death-the last voyage, the longest and the best
                                          ---Thomas Wolfe
Because I could not stop for death, He kindly stopped for me. The carriage held but just ourselves And immortaility
                                          ---Emily Dickinson
Nothing you can lose by dying is half as precious as the readiness to die,which is man's charter of nobility.
                                        ---George Santayana
There is but one freedom, to put oneself right with death. After that everything is possible. 
I cannot force you to believe in God. Believing in God amounts to coming to terms with death.
When you have accepted death, the problem of God will be solved--and not the reverse.
                                               --- Camus, Albert
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.  Live you life in a manner so that when you die
the world cries and you  rejoice.
                                                                 ---Native American Proverb
eeing death as the end of life is like seeing the horizon as the end
                                           of the ocean.
                                           ---David Searls
Knowledge by suffering entereth,
                                        And life is perfected by death.
                                    ---Poet: Elizabeth Barret Browning
If God hath made this world so fair, Where sin and death abound, How beautiful beyond compare
                                           Will paradise be found!
                                   ---James Montgomery. 1771-1854.
Death came with friendly care; The opening bud to heaven conveyed, And bade it blossom there.
                                          ---Samuel Taylor
Death cometh soon or late; And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods?
                                       ---Thomas B. Macaulay
There is no death! What seems so is transition; This life of mortal breath Is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call Death.
                                       ---Henry W. Longfellow
In death a hero, as in life a friend!
                                         ---Alexander Pope
Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.
                                        ---Vladimir Nobokov
Death is a delightful hiding place for weary men.
                                           ---Herodotus
It is a far, far better thing that I do, than anything I have ever done; it is a far, far, better rest that I go to, 
than I have ever known.
                                         ---Charles Dickens
I am going to seek the great Perhaps
                                         ---Francois Rabelais


ANGEL QUOTES
Quotes, poetry and prose about angels to inspire and bless us:
                    "We can all be angels to one another. We can choose to obey the still small stirring within, the little whisper that says,Go. Ask. Reach out. Be an answer to someone's plea.  You have a part to play. Have faith.'
                         We can decide to risk that He is indeed there, watching, caring, cherishing us as we love and accept love. The world will be a better place for it.
              And wherever they are, the angels will dance."
                                                   -Joan Wester Anderson

    "We are like children, who stand in need of masters to enlighten us and direct us; and God has provided for this,
    by appointing his angels to be our teachers and guides."
                                                      -Saint Thomas Aquinas
"We shall find peace. We shall hear angels,
 we shall see the sky sparkling with diamonds."
                                                                -Chekov
"Make yourself familiar with the angels, and behold them
       frequently in spirit; for without being seen they are present with you. 
                                        -Saint Francis de Sales
""To love for the sake of being loved is human, but to love for the sake of loving is angelic."
                                                     -Alphonse de Lamartine
"For God comments the angels to guard you in all your ways."
                                                        -Pslams, 91:11
 "The guardian angels of life sometimes fly so high as to 
be beyond our sight, but they are always looking down upon us."
                                                            -Jean Paul Richter
"Angel of God, my guardian dear
To whom God's love commits me here; Ever this day be 
at my side,To light and guard, to rule and guide."
                                        -Traditional Catholic Prayer
 
"When hearts listen, angels sing."
                                                                    -Unknown
"Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God."
                                       -Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is joy in the presence of the angels.
                                           --Luke 15:10
But if these beings guard you, they do so because they
have been summoned by your prayers.
                                           Saint Ambrose
We are each of us angels with only one wing, to fly we
need only embrace each other.
                                                      ~ Source Unknown ~
That's all an angel is .... an idea of God.
                                          Meister Eckhart
The Night of Glory, more opulent than a thousand moons!
Then angels and revelations waft down by the 
grace of the Lord
                                           Koran XCVII
All God's angels come to us disguised.
                       --James Russell Lowell

INSPIRNATIONAL QUOTES ON COMFORT
Quotes to inspire those who are suffering:

Everybody can be great.  Because anybody can serve..
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
                                      ---Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The journey is the reward. ---Tao Saying
Hope is the thing with feathers, That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words,
and never stops at all.
                                         ---Emily Dickenson
Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as real strength.
                                         ---Ralph W. Sockman
Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all;
This, too, shall pass.
                                           ---Ann Landers
Honest men esteem and value nothing so much in this world as a  real friend.
Such a one is as it were another self, to whom we impart our most secret thoughts,
who partakes of our joy, and comforts us in our affliction; add to this, that his
company is an everlasting pleasure to us.
                                    --- Pilpay a Brahmin gymnosophist,
The hope of the righteous shall  be gladness
                                           ---Proverbs 10:28
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched.
 They must be felt with the heart.
                                                                           --- Helen Keller
God shall wipe all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, nor crying,
nether shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
                                          ---Revelation 21:4
Bear patiently, my heart, for you have suffered heavier things."
                                        --- Homer, Greek Author
I think only through suffering all our wonderful human qualities come out in us.
Unless and until you suffer, how will you understand other's suffering?"
                                          ---Sree Chakravarti
It requires more courage to suffer than to die.
                                      ---Napoleon Bonaparte,
That which does not kill me makes me stronger.
                                    ---Friedrich Nietzsche, Author
"Along the Road" I walked a mile with Pleasure;  She chattered all the way.  But left me none the wiser.  For all she had to say.  I walked a mile with Sorrow And ne'er a word said she;
But oh, the things I learned from her When Sorrow walked with me!
                                                              ---Robert Browning, Poet
They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy.
                                   ---Psalm 126:6
The Lord God will wipe all tears from all  their faces.
                                            ---Isaiah 25:8
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
                                           ---Matthew 5:4
Honest listening is one of the best medicines we can offer the dying and the bereaved.
                                 ---Jean Cameron ( dying of Cancer in 1982)
You never know till you try to reach them how accessible men are; but you must approach each man by the right door.
                                       ---Henry Ward Beecher
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.
                                           ---Helen Keller

                        There is nothing the body suffers which the soul may not profit by.
                                         ---George Meredith

                         Sometimes, when one person is absent, the whole world seems
                                            depopulated
                                       ---Allphonse de Lamartine
Grief knits two hearts in closer bonds than happiness ever can; and common sufferings are far stronger links than common joys.
                                        ---Alphonse de Lamartine
Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one 
only by other human beings.
                                            ---Elie Weisel
We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.
                                        ---Martin Luther King, Jr.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by
the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the
trade winds in your sails. Explore, Dream.
                                     ---Mark Twain [Samuel Langhornne Clemens] (1835-1910)
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.
                                            ---Helen Keller
Happiness is different from pleasure.  Happiness has something to do with struggling and enduring and accomplishing.
                                          ---George Sheehan
If you learn from your suffering, and really come to understand the lesson you were taught,
you might be able to help someone else who's now in the phase you may have just completed.
Maybe that is all there is.   Maybe that's what it's all about after all---Anonymous
The journey is the reward. -Tao Saying
Hope is the thing with feathers. That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words,
 and never stops at all.
                                          ---Emily Dickenson
Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as real strength.
                                         ---Ralph W. Sockman
Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all;
                                         This, too, shall pass.
                                           ---Ann Landers
Subject:  Eptaphs - Old and New
   Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2001 12:47:36 EST
   From:  Cobmoosa@aol.com
     To:  epitaph@olivija.com
 
 
 

Old

Regarding the "Fairly well known epitaph" found in Brooksville, ME:
It dates back to at least 1376.
"Such as thou art, so once was I,
As I am now, so shalt thou be."
The above is inscribed, in French, on the monument at Canterbury, England,
commemorating Edward, "The Black Prince," eldest son of Edward III, king of
England.  The prince died at age 46 on June 8, 1376.
Reference: Page 295, A Distant Mirror by Barbara W. Tuchman, Ballantine Books
Edition, 1979.

New

In St. Mary's Cemetery, Muskegon, MI, is a tombstone bearing the following
inscription:
Helen M. LaNore
1926 -
mother of eight - never late
Since the year of death is not inscribed, presumably Helen is still living.
I would like to meet her and hear her story.
Wm. H. Schimanski
1169 Devonshire Drive
Muskegon, MI   49441
schimanskiw@asme.org
 
 


If you have a neat epitaph send it in and I'll add you on.
Boo and me.......EMAIL..
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


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Last Edited 10-6-2001