Wording
Where to start with your inscription
In my experience, the inscription can be the most challenging part of the whole process, like beginning an essay, many of us sit, pen in hand without a clue where to start.
This section gives a little advice on how to create an inscription you can feel proud of.
First of all, it's important to remember there are no rules or laws, as long as the wording is respectful, you can design it however you want. We never charge per letter so go ahead and have as much or as little as you like
To make it easier, I always recommend you break the inscription down into three sections, each section has many options and can even be left out entirely.
Section 1:
Section one is the introduction; its usually quite short. for example;
"In Loving Memory of"
or
"Cherished Memories of"
or
"With Love, We Remember."
Section 2:
This Section is the name and dates of the deceased. It can be written in several ways, it could include the date of birth and the date of death, either in full or just a year, it can be numerical or written in full, for example;
02/03/1986 - 12/07/2012
or
Born 2nd March 1986 - Passed Away 12th July 2012
or
1986 - 2012.
Sometimes the dates are left out and are replaced with
"Aged 86"
or
"Aged 86 Years".
Perhaps you would prefer to have both the dates and the age?
Section 3:
This final section is the sentiment. The sentiment is optional and can be anything from a short epitaph like
"Forever Loved"
or
"Always Missed"
it could also be longer like a poem or biblical statement, it could be a quote the deceased was known for saying for example
"Cheap as Chips"
or
"God Bless"
It could also show a glimpse of his or her legacy, eg.
"A Devoted Husband, Father, Grandfather & Great Grandfather"
perhaps this could be placed before section 2 instead of afterwards? It's your choice.
Still Stuck? Please have a look below at some ideas or let us create an inscription for you.
Whatever you decide on will be placed into a proof for you before it's written in stone, that way you can see what you're getting and even make changes as many times as you like.
Longer Epitaph's
Gone are the days we used to share
But in our hearts, you’re always there
~
Though his smile has gone forever and his hand we cannot touch
We shall never lose sweet memories of the one we loved so much
~
Gone is the face we loved so dear
Silent the voice we loved to hear
~
It broke our hearts to lose you but you did not go alone
For part of us went with you the day god called you home
~
To live in the hearts of those we love is not to die
~
Remembered with a smile
~
Her life a beautiful memory her absence a silent grief
~
Too dearly loved to be forgotten
~
A tiny flower lent not given
To bud on earth and bloom in heaven
~
A bouquet of beautiful memories sprayed with a million tears
Wishing god could have saved you, if just for a few more years
~
Memory is a golden chain that binds us till we meet again
~
On earth one gentle soul the less
In heaven one angel more
~
God has you in his keeping
We have you in our hearts
~
Gone from us but not forgotten
~
Always in our thoughts, forever in our hearts
~
Always loved, never forgotten
~
Your love will light my way
~
Our love is love forever
~
And the beauty of the soul revealed
~
You are always in my head
~
Ageless beauty, running wild
~
He was one who followed dreams, stars and ships
~
Our brief partings on Earth will appear one day as nothing beside the joy of eternity together
~
What we keep in our memory is ours unchanged forever
~
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest
~
Blessed sleep to which we all return
~
Grace to be born and live as variously as possible
~
No one spread more love in one lifetime
~
Sadness is a wall between two gardens
~
Life is not forever. Love is
~
Where there is great love there are always miracles
~
Real love stories never have endings
~
Today she dances with angels
~
As I was so are ye As I am so shall ye bee. Thy life a floure Thy breath a blast
~
Non hodie Quod heri (I am not today what I was yesterday)
~
The sun on my face, even on the shortest day
~
Be sure, wherever I may roam, my heart is with your heart at home
~
Death is only a shadow across the path to heaven
~
Deep peace of the quiet Earth to you
~
Those we love don't go away, they walk beside us every day
~
Always in our thoughts, forever in our hearts
~
Sweet are the memories that never fade
~
His life a beautiful memory, his absence a silent grief
~
There was grace in her steps, love in every gesture
~
She touched everyone with special love and kindness
~
Blessed To Us Is The Memory Of Your Unselfish Love
~
Lost now but loved forever
~
For with God nothing shall be impossible
~
A star on Earth and a star in heaven
~
An angel on Earth and an angel in heaven
~
He longest lives, who most to others gives, himself forgetting
~
Safe in the arms of Jesus
~
Her works were kindness, her deeds were love
~
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal
~
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away
~
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
~
VITA MUTATUR NON TOLLITUR
(Life is changed, not taken away)
~
They loved each other and taught us that love
~
Peace is thine, and sweet remembrance is ours
~
Whither tho goest I will go
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass…. It's about learning how to dance in the rain
~
The kingdom of Heaven is within you
~
To reach a great height a person needs to have great depth
~
Generous of heart, constant of faith
~
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing
~
She filled every second of her life with laughter, love and happiness
~
Their greatest peace was found in nature
~
Generous of heart, constant of faith
~
God could not have made earthly ties so strong to break them in eternity
~
Too well loved to be ever forgotten
~
May she be remembered as she remembered others
~
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you
~
Your love will light my way
Shorter Epitaph's
Re-united
~
Beloved
~
Dearly
~
beloved
~
Adored
~
So loved
~
Into the sunshine
~
Dearly loved
~
Once met, never forgotten
~
Uncompromisingly unique
~
Remembered with love
~
Love you always
~
With a greater thing to do
~
Love is enough
~
Peace perfect peace
~
She is not far away
~
Love you miss you
~
So loved
~
Love is enough
~
May his memory be eternal
~
Always together
~
Devoted in love
~
Dance on
~
Always loving, always loved
~
Asleep in Jesus
~
Forever in our hearts
~
Until we meet again
~
Rest in peace
~
Ever loved
~
Adored
~
So loved
~
An inspiration
~
Loved and remembered
~
In god's care
~
An inspiration to all
~
She walked in beauty
~
Together again
~
Love is waiting
~
Once met, never forgotten
~
A long life well lived
~
Remembered with love
~
Great love lives on
~
Love is eternal
~
Love lives on
~
Sleep till eternity
~
Time passes, love remains
~
Free spirit
~
Precious are the memories
~
Modest and gentle of heart
~
Peace perfect peace
~
Forever loved
Biblical Epitaph's
I am my beloved's and his desire is for me. Song of Solomon 7:10
~
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. Revelation 21:4
~
That whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:15
~
Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings, Psalm 17
~
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8
~
They can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection. Luke 20:36
~
God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. John 4:13
~
Whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:15
~
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7
~
I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4
~
I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. Psalm 121:1
~
Sleep on now, and take your rest. Matthew 26:45
~
In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility. Titus 2:7
~
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
~
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away. Cant. ii:17
~
Whither thou goest, I will go. Ruth 1:16
~
He shall receive in the world to come eternal life. Mark 10:30
~
Blessed is the man who maketh the Lord his trust. Psalms 40:4
~
Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Matthew 25:21
I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm. Psalm 55:8
~
Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. Song of Solomon 4:16
The Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent, one from the other. Genesis 31:49
~
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine– "Grant them eternal rest, O Lord"
~
Let no one seek his own, but each one the other’s well-being. 1 Corinthians 10:24
Epitaph's For Children & Babies
God's garden needs flowers
~
Thrice happy Child, for surely she was borne on purpose to be translated to
~
Oh, for boyhood's time of June, crowding years into one brief moon. (Whittier)
~
One brief moment and all will be as it was before
How we shall laugh at the trouble of parting when we meet again! (Canon Henry Scott-Holland)
~
The child is the father of the man. (Wordsworth)
~
Called by one who loves him dearly
~
Children are the keys of paradise. (R.H. Stoddard)
~
Her Fearless Buoyant Youth Will Always Live, Revealing Love And Truth And Radiant Joy
~
Held for a moment, loved for a lifetime
~
Budded on Earth to bloom in Heaven
~
May you find comfort in the Arms of An Angel
A painter of rainbows
~
I held you your whole life
~
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched, but are felt in the heart. ( Helen Keller)
~
If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden foreve.r (Tennyson)
~
Time cuts down all, Both great and small
~
May you touch
Dragonflies and stars,
Dance with fairies,
And talk to the moon
~
There is no foot so small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world
~
As long as I can I will look at this world for both of us. As long as I can I will laugh with the birds, I will sing with the flowers, I will pray to the stars, for both of us. (Sascha)
~
Born into the arms of the Angels
~
Waft her, angels, through the skies. (Handel)
~
If every tear we shed for you became a star above, you'd stroll in Angels' garden lit by everlasting love
~
Tread carefully, here lies our world
~
Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home. (Rumi)
~
As snug as a bug in a rug
~
Gone to be an angel
~
But Still I Dream That Somewhere There Must Be The Spirit Of A Child That Waits For Me.(Bayard Taylor)
~
Each new life... No matter how fragile or brief... Forever changes the world
~
So small, so sweet, so soon
~
An Angel visited the green Earth, and took a flower away. (Longfellow)
~
Hush, my dear, be still and slumber; Jolly angels guard your bed. (Watts)
~
Little Boy Blue has gone away. (Field)
Sleep, my little one, sleep. (Harrington)
~
A little soul takes wings
~
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet
~
The function of man is to live, not to exist
~
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
― Jack London
~
Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:14
~
Loved with a love beyond telling,
Missed with a grief beyond all tears
~
Sometimes love is for a moment.
Sometimes love is for a lifetime.
Sometimes a moment is a lifetime.
~
Ours for a little while
~
And As The Evening Twilight Fades Away The Sky Is Filled With Stars, Invisible By Day (Longfellow)
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here, Warm southern wind, blow softly here, Green sod above, lie light, lie light, Good-night, dear heart, good-night, good-night. (Olivia Susan Clemens)
~
Children are the keys of paradise. (R.H. Stoddard)
~
A little soul scarce fledged for earth Takes wing with heaven again for goal, Even while we hailed as fresh from birth A little soul. (Algernon Charles Swinburne)
~
I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. (Walt Whitman)
~
Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
(Walt Whitman)
~
Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.
(Walt Whitman)
Quotes
Speak your love still once again. (Edward Clinton)
~
She walks in beauty like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies. (Lord Byron)
~
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance. (Gibran)
~
Speak your love still once again. (Edward Clinton)
~
Tears water our growth (William Shakespeare)
~
Dance, then, wherever you may be. (Sydney Carter, from Lord of the Dance)
~
To live in the hearts of those we love is not to die. (Thomas Campbell)
~
I am I and you are you, whatever we were to each other that we still are. (Canon Henry Scott-Holland)
~
Death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight. (Rossiter Worthington Raymond)
~
Good night, and you will dream of me (Maurice Sendak, My Brother's Book)
~
To unpathed waters, undreamed shores (Shakespeare)
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away. (Cant. ii:17)
~
Where He leads me I can safely go. (Millay)
~
The song is ended but the melody lingers on… (Irving Berlin)
~
My barque is wafted to the strand by breath Divine and on the helm there rests a hand other than mine.( Henry Alford)
~
Whither thou goest, I will go. (Ruth i:16)
~
The song is ended but the melody lingers on. (Irving Berlin)
~
For all we know this might only be a dream,
we come and go like ripples in a stream. (Nat King Cole)
~
No one thinks of winter when the grass is green. (Rudyard Kipling)
~
'Tis not the whole of life to live, nor all of death to die. (J. Montgomery)
~
Far Away, There In The Sunshine Are My Highest Aspirations (Louise May Alcott)
~
Now twilight lets her curtain down and pins it with a star. (L.M.Child)
They flash upon that inward eye, Which is the bliss of solitude. (Wordsworth)
~
Step softly, a dream lies buried here. (Yates)
~
If winter comes, can spring be far behind? ( Percy Bysshe Shelley)
~
Strive not, my soul, for an immortal life, but make the most of what is possible.(Pindar)
~
We come whirling out of nothingness scattering stars like dust. The stars made a circle and in the middle we dance.(Rumi)
~
Sorrows are like tall angels with star-crowns in their hair. (Margery Eldredge Howell)
~
I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days. (Keats)
~
By the whispering shady trees. I will find my sanctuary in the Lord. (Van Morrison)
~
He who binds to himself a joy, Does the wingéd life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies, Lives in eternity’s sunrise. (William Blake)
~
Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die.
I have sent up my gladness on wings, to be lost in the blue of the sky. (Amelia Josephine Burr)
~
May the countryside and the gliding valley streams content me.(Virgil)
~
Whoever brought me here
will have to take me home. (Rumi)
~
She would be half a planet away, floating in a turquoise sea, dancing by moonlight to flamenco guitar. (Janet Fitch, White Oleander)
~
What you seek is seeking you. (Rumi)
~
Death is not the extinguishing of the light, but the putting out of the lamp, because Dawn has come. (Rabindranath Tagore)
~
Death is but crossing the world, as friends do the seas; they live in one another still. (from More Fruits of Solitude by William Penn)
~
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII)
Music, when soft voices die, vibrates in the memory. (Shelley)
~
In small proportions, we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be. (Ben Jonson)
~
Love is not changed by death And nothing is lost And all in the end is harvest. (Edith Sitwell)
~
A life, like any other, completely unlike any other. (Neil Gaiman)
~
Yet in this heart's most sacred place, thou, alone, shall dwell forever (Moore)
~
God gives us love. Something to love He lends us. (Tennyson)
~
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. (Moore)
~
God is and all is well. (Whittier)
~
From my body, flowers shall grow and I am in them and that is eternity (Edvard Munch)
~
We sail the beautiful and invisible ocean, where none have ever really drowned. (Brian Pattten)
~
He who has gone, so we but cherish his memory, abides with us, more potent, nay, more present, than the living man.(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
~
The heart of man is restless until he finds rest in Thee. (St Augustine)
~
Mutual love, the crown of all our bliss. (Milton)
~
So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
~
Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into heaven. (H. W Beecher)
~
He did not lose his place in the minds of men because he was out of their sight. (John Henry Newman, Sermons)
~
Heaven, the treasury of everlasting joy. (Shakespeare)
~
When you are sorrowful, look again. (Gibran)
~
In His will is our peace. (Dante)
~
Let me return to my home town entombed in grass as in a warm and high sea. (Giorgio Bassam)
~
Death is not a foe, but an inevitable adventure. (Sir Oliver Lodge)
It is not length of life, but depth of life. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)
~
My second self and best earthly companion (Charlotte Bronte)
~
For death begins with life's first breath, and life begins at the touch of death. (John Oxenham)
~
The heart of him who truly loves is a paradise on Earth. (Lamennais)
~
To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground. (Stephen R. Covey)
~
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched, but are felt in the heart. (Helen Keller)
~
Oh fair enough are sky and plain
But I know fairer far (A.E.Housman)
~
I am the sailor of eternity whose voyage is not gone. (Shannon L. Alder)
~
Coelorum perrupit claustra.
He broke through the barriers of the skies. (Herschel)
~
Jesus died for all mankind,
And Jesus died for me. (lyrics from Grace 'tis a charming sound)
~
We all shine on...like the moon and the stars and the sun...we all shine on...come on and on and on... (John Lennon)
~
I used to measure the skies, now I measure the shadows of Earth.
Although my mind was sky-bound, the shadow of my body lies here. (Johannes Kepler)
~
People living deeply have no fear of death. (Anais Nin)
~
Till the master of all good workmen shall set us to work anew (Kipling)
~
Never born, Never died: visited the planet earth between December 11, 1931 and, January 19, 1990. (Osho)
~
Beyond is the infinite morning of a day without tomorrow. (W.S. Abbott)
~
From joy all beings have come and unto joy they all return. (Upanishads)
~
Thou tun'st this World below, the Spheres above,
Who in the Heavenly Round to their own Music move (Purcell)
~
We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. ( Pierre Teilhard de Chardin)
~
Death is the golden key that opens the palace of Eternity. (Milton)
~
There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief. ( Aeschylus)
~
A Gentle Man and a Gentleman. (Jack Dempsey)
~
Lights will guide you home (Coldplay)
~
The life given us, by nature is short; but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal. (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
~
What seems to us but dim funeral tapers may be heaven’s distant lamps. (Longfellow)
~
If you can remember me, I will be with you always. ( Isabel Allende)
~
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light. I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night." (From "The Old Astronomer" by Sarah Williams)
~
Safe in the hallowed quiets of the past. (Lowell)
~
Let your soul stand cool and composed
before a million universes. (Walt Whitman)
~
Frolic in the land of forever with me. (Rae Hachton)
~
We only part to meet again (Gay)
~
Say not in grief "She is no more", but live in thankfulness that she was. ( Rabindranath Tagore)
~
Heaven, the treasury of everlasting joy. (Shakespeare)
~
In the night of death, hope sees a star, and listening love can hear the rustle of a wing. (Robert Ingersoll)
~
Where there is much light, the shadows are deepest. (Goethe)
~
Turn me loose from your hands, Let me fly to distant lands, Fly away skyline pigeon fly, Towards the dreams you've left so very far behind. (Elton John)
~
Truth to your own spirit. (Jim Morrison)
~
He hath awakened from the dream of life. (Shelley)
~
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. (Jack London)
~
Dare to be different. Represent your maker well and you will forever abide in the beautiful embrace of his loving arms. (Jaachynma N.E. Agu, The Prince and the Pauper)
~
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (Eloisa to Abelard, Alexander Pope)
~
You are my sun, my moon and all my stars. (E E Cummings)
Poems
Be still.
Close your eyes.
Breathe.
Listen for my footfall in your heart.
I am not gone but merely walk within you.
~
Even as the sun goes down
To end the light of day,
It's rising on a new horizon,
Somewhere far away.
~
Should we lose each other in the shadow of the evening trees
I'll wait for you
And should I fall behind
Wait for me
~
Say not in grief that she is no more
but say in thankfulness that she was
A death is not the extinguishing of a light,
but the putting out of the lamp
because the dawn has come.
~
I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
~
For all we know
This might only be a dream
We come and we go
Like the ripples, like the ripples in the stream
~
The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have
Is yours
The love that I have
Of the life that I have
Is yours and yours and yours
A sleep I shall have
A rest I shall have
Yet death will be but a pause
For the peace of my years
In the long green grass
Will be yours and yours and yours
~
For everything exists and not
one sigh nor smile nor tear,
one hair nor particle
of dust, not one can pass away.
~
Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
~
I know I am deathless.
I know this orbit of mine
cannot be swept by a carpenter’s compass.
All goes outward and nothing collapses,
and to die is different
from what anyone supposed...and luckier.
~
How many times do I love thee, dear?
Tell me how many thoughts there be
In the atmosphere
Of a new-fall’n year,
Whose white and sable hours appear
The latest flake of Eternity:—
So many times do I love thee, dear.
~
You will hear thunder and remember me,
And think: she wanted storms.
The rim of the sky will be
the colour of hard crimson,
And your heart, as it was then,
will be on fire.
~
Even the angels
Forget their services and about her fly
Oft peering on her face that seems more fair
The more they on it stare
~
While I remained at the bottom in dark shadow
others ascended to know the kiss of glory
~
Remember friend as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now you will surely be
Prepare thyself to follow me.
~
That best portion of a good man's life,
His little, nameless, unremembered acts
Of kindness and of love
~
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
~
Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity
~
Softly the leaves of memory fall,
Gently I gather and treasure them all.
Unseen, unheard,
You are always near,
So missed, so loved, so very dear
~
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul
~
Life's race well run,
Life's work well done,
Life's victory won,
Now cometh rest
Proverbs
Life is a dream walking, death is going home
~
The acts of this life are the destiny of the next
~
A best friend is like a four leaf clover, Hard to find and lucky to have
~
A day of sorrow is longer than a month of joy
~
A diamond among men
~
A faithful friend is a medicine for life
~
gentle heart is tied with an easy thread
~
good man is hard to find
~
happy heart is better than a full purse
~
A man comes from the dust and in the dust he will end
~
A man is judged by his deeds, not by his words
~
Absence makes the heart grow fonder
~
Age before beauty
~
All you need is love
~
Another day, another dollar
~
At the end of the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box
~
Beauty without virtue is a flower without perfume
~
Better to have loved and lost, than never have loved at all
~
Blessings Are Not Valued Until They Are Gone
~
Cold hands, warm heart
~
Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief
~
Faith will move mountains
~
Fate leads the willing but drives the stubborn
~
A little fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses
~
Fortune favours the brave
~
Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company
~
Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget
~
Home is where the heart is
~
If you wish to be loved, love
~
Love conquers all
~
Love starts with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a tear