Sometimes another person's words say what our own hearts cannot. Families often ask us for readings for eulogies, sympathy cards and memorial programs. These ten passages are the ones requested most.
For remembrance
1. “What we have once enjoyed deeply we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” — Helen Keller
2. “They that love beyond the world cannot be separated by it. Death cannot kill what never dies.” — William Penn
3. “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” — Thomas Campbell
Grief is the price we pay for love — and it is a price worth paying, again and again.
For comfort
4. “There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power.” — Washington Irving
5. “The darker the night, the brighter the stars.” — Fyodor Dostoevsky
6. “What is lovely never dies, but passes into another loveliness.” — Thomas Bailey Aldrich
7. “Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality.” — Emily Dickinson
For hope
8. “Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.” — Rabindranath Tagore
9. “Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in time of sorrow.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
10. “Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through.” — Eskimo proverb
If you are writing a eulogy and need help choosing or shaping a reading, our directors will sit with you and find the words together. Call 800.567.1234 any time.
