Funeral Quotes for a Program: Short Quotes for Every Page

Funeral Quotes for a Program: Short Quotes for Every Page

Sometimes a full poem is too much. The cover needs one line. The bottom of the obituary page has room for a sentence. The back of the program needs something to close on. That’s where a short quote does its work.

This collection gathers funeral quotes for every part of a program: timeless lines from poets and writers, comforting Scripture, traditional blessings, and a handful of original lines written for Noted & Charmed. The classic quotes are all old enough to be in the public domain, so you can print them freely.

In This Collection

Short Quotes for the Program Cover

A cover quote should be short enough to read at a glance, usually under a dozen words.

  • “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” — Thomas Campbell
  • “Unable are the Loved to die, for Love is Immortality.” — Emily Dickinson
  • “The song is ended, but the melody lingers on.” — Irving Berlin
  • “Home is the sailor, home from sea, and the hunter home from the hill.” — Robert Louis Stevenson
  • “Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.” — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  • “There is no Death! What seems so is transition.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Found the Right Words?

Put them on a program that feels like them. Each design is editable in free Canva and ready to print at home or any copy shop.

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Quotes About Love and Remembrance

  • “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” — Helen Keller
  • “The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” — Cicero
  • “There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power.” — Washington Irving
  • “When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
  • “For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.” — Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
  • “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal.” — From an Irish headstone

Classic Lines from Poets and Writers

  • “’Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  • “Sunset and evening star, and one clear call for me!” — Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Crossing the Bar”
  • “Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me.” — Emily Dickinson
  • “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.” — Emily Dickinson
  • “Better by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad.” — Christina Rossetti, “Remember”
  • “Death is nothing at all. I have only slipped away into the next room.” — Henry Scott Holland

Tip: Tennyson’s “Crossing the Bar” and Stevenson’s “Requiem” are both short enough to print in full on an inside page, and both are in the public domain.

Scripture and Faith Quotes

  • “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” — Matthew 5:4
  • “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1
  • “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” — Psalm 23:4
  • “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” — John 14:2
  • “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death.” — Revelation 21:4
  • “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7

All Scripture quoted from the King James Version. For many more verses, see our Funeral Scriptures for Women and Men.

Traditional Blessings and Epitaphs

  • “May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back.” — Traditional Irish blessing
  • “Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.” — Traditional Irish blessing
  • “Gone home.” — Traditional epitaph
  • “Asleep in Jesus.” — Traditional epitaph
  • “Forever in our hearts.” — Traditional

Original Lines You Can Use Freely

These short lines were written for Noted & Charmed. Use them anywhere in your program.

  • “The world is quieter without you, and so much fuller because you were here.”
  • “Your chair is empty. Our hearts are not.”
  • “You taught us how to live. Now we’ll live the way you taught us.”
  • “Love doesn’t end. It just finds new ways to be felt.”
  • “Some people leave footprints on your heart. You left a whole path.”
  • “We’ll carry your laugh with us everywhere.”
  • “Thank you for every ordinary day. They were the best ones.”
  • “Gone from our arms, never from our stories.”

© Noted & Charmed — free for personal memorial use.

Where to Put a Quote in the Program

  • Front cover: one short line beneath the name and dates. Keep it under 12 words.
  • Inside page: a longer quote or a short poem, often beside a photo.
  • Bottom of the obituary: a single line to close the life story.
  • Back cover: a blessing, a verse, or a thank-you line from the family.
  • Prayer cards and bookmarks: a verse or short quote on the back.

All our templates open in free Canva, so you can click any text box and paste your quote in. For full-length poems, see the collections below.

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