60 epitaphs and short phrases of remembrance

An epitaph is a life distilled into a single line. It can be solemn, tender, or even carry the humour the person themselves had. Here are some ideas to inspire you.

Classic

• “Rest in peace.”
• “Forever in our hearts.”
• “Your memory will live on in us.”
• “Those we love never truly leave us.”

Poetic

• “A light went out, and left us a sky full of stars.”
• “You haven't gone: you're in every good thing you taught us.”
• “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”
• “You were our shelter; now you are our horizon.”

Personal

• “She taught us to live slowly and to love fiercely.”
• “The best grandma, the best Sunday roast, the best laugh.”
• “He could mend anything: a chair, a sorrow, a bad day.”
• “She left the way she lived: with a smile.”

How to choose

• Read it in their voice. If that person would never have said it, it isn't their line.
• Shorter is better. In stone and in memory, it's the brief that endures.
• Ask the family. Sometimes a grandchild has the perfect phrase: something the person always used to say.

On an online memorial, the epitaph sits at the top of the page, just beneath their name. It's the first thing a visitor will read twenty years from now: it deserves a few minutes' thought.