Quotes to Read for a Funeral Service
Quotations for funerals can be used as the basis for a eulogy, as part of a funeral reading, or included in the printed funeral program. If you are holding a wake or a repast, you might even use a funeral quotation as a toast to the deceased. Choosing funeral quotations is a deeply personal process since how appropriate a particular quotation is will depend on your faith, the personality of the deceased, and your cultural traditions.
Because there is such a wide range of quotes available, the process of narrowing down a list of possible funeral quotes can be a bit overwhelming. If you keep the purpose of the quote in mind it will help guide you. You want to select quotes that pay respect to the deceased and honor his or her memory. Choosing something that evokes a special memory or illustrates the person’s nature can help.
We have listed some of the most common and popular quotations for funerals below. We hope that this list will help to inspire you.
Examples of Quotations for Funerals
Dream that my little baby came to life again; that it had only been cold, and that we rubbed it before the fire, and it lived. Awake and find no baby. I think about the little thing all day. Not in good spirits. —Mary Wollstonecraft
When you come to the edge of all that you have known, there will be two possibilities awaiting you: There will be something solid to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. — A Turtle Creek Chorale member. After goodbye: an AIDS story, a PBS, 1995 and 1996.
Have courage for the great sorrows in life, and patience for the small ones; and when you have laboriously accomplished your daily task, go to sleep in peace. God is awake. —Victor Hugo
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. –John Donne
Death ends a life….not a relationship. —Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom
A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again. –Maya Angelou
I have heard it said that winter, too, will pass, that spring is a sign that summer is due at last. See, all we have to do is hang on. –Maya Angelou
A Mother holds her children’s hands for a while.. their hearts forever. To live in hearts we leave behind Is not to die. Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives. –A. Sachs
It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Chinese Proverb
How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are? Satchell Paige
The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. Abraham Lincoln
The sorrow for the dead is the only sorrow from which we refuse to be divorced. Every other wound we seek to heal, every other affliction to forget; but this wound we consider it a duty to keep open: this affliction we cherish and brood over in solitude. –Washington Irvine
The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one minute to the next. –Mignon McLaughlin
The most I ever did for you, was to outlive you, but that is much. –Edna St Vincent Millay
The presence of that absence is everywhere. –Edna St Vincent Millay
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. –Matthew 5:4 (King James Version)
Fighting the entropy of life can make peace feel elusive, but it is always somewhere inside of us, waiting for our attention. Even when we can’t find the moments, we can believe in its ongoing presence. –Cendra Lynn
We do not remember days, we remember moments. –Cesare Pavese
It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, (protecting its sanity), covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens, but it is never gone. –Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
Two in distress suffer less. –Proverb
At all crucial moments in our lives we want to speak without knowing what to say. –Joyce Carol Oates
The best tribute you can make to a loved one is the life you live after the death. –Unknown
Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened. –Dr. Suess
Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards. –Soren Kierkegaard
Perhaps they are not stars but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones shines down to let us know they are happy. –Eskimo legend
Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. –Hans Christian Andersen
What we once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes part of us. –Helen Keller
If winter comes, can spring be far behind? –Percy Bysshe Shelley
