Short Quotes For Memorial Cards

How long a quote can be on a memorial card

A memorial card or prayer card is usually 2.5 by 4.25 inches. With a quarter inch of safe margin on every side, the printable area on the back is about 2 by 3.75 inches, and that space also holds the person’s name, their dates and sometimes a small cross or rule.

At 10 to 11 point type, the smallest most older guests read easily, the back holds about 40 to 60 words in total. For the quote itself:

Under 25 words sits comfortably, even in a script font with a large name above it.
25 to 40 words fits well in a plain font.
40 to 60 words fits only if the name and dates are compact and the type stays plain.

Prose quotes are easier to fit than poems. A sentence wraps to fill the width, while a verse needs a new line for every line of the poem. A 35-word quote often takes four or five lines on the card, and a 35-word verse can take eight.

Try your quote in the prayer card template or the memorial card template before you print. The editor shrinks the text to fit and warns you when it gets too small to read.

Where these quotes come from

Every quote with a name after it was published before 1929, by an author who died long ago, and we checked the wording against the original text. Scripture is from the King James Version. If your church uses a different translation, ask the priest or pastor which wording to print.

Lines with no name after them are original, written for this site. You’re welcome to print them, change a word, or leave them uncredited on the card.

If you want rhyming lines or a short poem instead, see short verses for memorial cards.

Comforting quotes

These suit a family in the first rawness of grief, or a card for someone whose death came too soon.

You are sure to be happy again. (Abraham Lincoln, letter to Fanny McCullough, 1862)
The memory of your dear Father, instead of an agony, will yet be a sad sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer and holier sort than you have known before. (Abraham Lincoln, letter to Fanny McCullough, 1862)
Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, 1861)
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, 1923)
Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. (Helen Keller, Optimism, 1903)
Missed every day, and spoken of often.
We carry you with us now, in the way we laugh and the way we set the table.
The hurt is this big because the love was.

Lincoln wrote to Fanny McCullough, a young woman whose father had been killed in the Civil War. The letter talks about her father, so the second line suits a card for a dad. To use it for anyone else, the first line on its own works for every card.

Quotes about love

For a husband, wife or partner, or for anyone whose life was mostly about the people they loved.

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it. (Song of Solomon 8:7)
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1 Corinthians 13:13)
And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation. (Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 1923)
Love is life in its fulness like the cup with its wine. (Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916)
All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one; you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone. (Jane Austen, Persuasion, 1817)
Fifty-one years, and I’d say yes again every morning.
Loved by many, and loved best by those who knew her longest.
You were my favorite place to come home to.

In the King James Version, “charity” means love. Many families keep the old wording on the card. The Austen line is spoken by a woman in the novel, so it suits a card from a wife or for a woman who outlived her husband.

Quotes about a life well lived

These fit someone who died in old age after a full life, or someone known for their work and the way they treated people.

Well done, thou good and faithful servant. (Matthew 25:21)
But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (Proverbs 4:18)
Work is love made visible. (Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 1923)
The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts. (George Eliot, Middlemarch, 1872)
To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success is to labour. (Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque, 1881)
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854)
She did the small things well, every day, for ninety-one years.
He left every place a little better than he found it, including us.
A long life, lived on purpose.

“Work is love made visible” suits a nurse, a teacher, a farmer or anyone whose job was a way of looking after people. The Middlemarch line comes from the novel’s closing paragraph, about people who lived good lives without fame. The Thoreau sentence is 44 words, so keep the rest of the card simple if you choose it.

Quotes for a mother

She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. (Proverbs 31:26)
Her children arise up, and call her blessed. (Proverbs 31:28)
Oh, there is an enduring tenderness in the love of a mother to a son, that transcends all other affections of the heart. (Washington Irving, The Widow and Her Son)
She kept the porch light on for all of us, and she kept it on for anyone else who needed it.
Mom made every house a home, even the ones that weren’t hers.
Everything we know about kindness, we learned at her kitchen table.

The Irving line comes from his sketch “The Widow and Her Son,” in The Sketch Book, and is written from a son’s point of view. For a card from daughters or from the whole family, Proverbs 31:28 or one of the original lines fits better.

Quotes for a father

He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again. (William Shakespeare, Hamlet)
The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him. (Proverbs 20:7)
He taught us how to work, and then he taught us when to stop.
Dad could fix almost anything, and when he couldn’t, he sat with you while it stayed broken.
His hands were always busy, and his door was always open.

Hamlet says this about his own father, so it fits a card for a dad. Credit it to Shakespeare on the card; you don’t need the act and scene.

Nature quotes

For someone who gardened, farmed, fished, hiked or simply liked to sit outside.

There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. (Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854)
In the woods, we return to reason and faith. (Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, 1836)
Death belongs to life as birth does. The walk is in the raising of the foot as in the laying of it down. (Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, 1916)
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. (Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 1923)
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. (Ecclesiastes 1:4)
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. (Isaiah 55:12)
She planted things she knew she’d never see grow tall.
Gone to the garden early, the way he always did.
The tide went out, and he went with it.

The Thoreau lines are the last two sentences of Walden. They work for a religious or non-religious card, and at 12 words they leave room for almost anything else.

Faith quotes

All from the King James Version. If the family is Catholic, the traditional prayers on our short verses page may be what the parish expects.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1)
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. (Psalm 126:5)
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. (John 14:1)
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. (Romans 14:8)
Safe home, and resting in God’s hands.
Called home, and welcomed in.

Light-hearted quotes

For someone who would have rolled their eyes at a solemn card. Check with the family first, since a light line on a card is printed and kept for years.

Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. (Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894)
Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved. (Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 1894)
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. (Proverbs 17:22)
She’d want you to have the second piece of cake.
Gone fishing. Save him a seat at the reception.
He finally got the last word.
Please don’t cry at the cards. Laugh at the photo instead.

The Twain lines are from the made-up calendar sayings at the top of each chapter of Pudd’nhead Wilson. If you’re writing a funny eulogy too, see our funny eulogy examples.

Quotes to check before you print

Many memorial quotes passed around online have no clear source. Some are credited to famous writers who never wrote them, and others come from books or songs that are still under copyright. A family printing a hundred cards is publishing the quote, so it’s worth a few minutes to check.

Look for the quote in the author’s own book. Project Gutenberg and Wikisource have the full text of most older books, and a search for a few exact words will show you whether it’s really there.
Check the date. Writing published in the US before 1929 is in the public domain. Most writing published since then is still under copyright.
Be wary of a quote that sounds modern but is credited to someone who lived long ago. Words like “journey,” “legacy” or “it’s not about” in a line credited to Shakespeare or Lincoln are a warning sign.
If you can’t confirm the source, leave the name off and print the line as a saying, or choose another one.

Laying out a quote on the card

Put the name first, the dates under it, then the quote, then the credit.
Set the quote in a plain font, even if the name is in script, so older guests can read it.
Quotation marks are optional. Many cards set the quote in italics without them.
Credit in smaller type under the quote: the author’s name, or the book and verse for scripture. You don’t need the title of the work or the year.
Center a one-line quote. A two-sentence quote is often easier to read left-aligned.
Proofread the dates and the spelling of the name twice, and ask someone who didn’t type them to check them against the obituary.

When the wording is settled, choose a design from the prayer card template or memorial card template pages, or browse memorial cards for other layouts. Every design prints at home or goes to a print shop with bleed.

Questions people ask

How long should a quote on a memorial card be?

Aim for under 30 words. A standard 2.5 by 4.25 inch card holds about 40 to 60 words at a size people can read, and the name, dates and credit line use part of that space.

Can I use a quote I found online on a memorial card?

Check it first. Many quotes shared online are credited to the wrong person, and some come from books still under copyright. If you can't find it in the author's own published work, use an original line or one from this page instead.

Do I need to credit the author on a memorial card?

It's polite and helps guests who want to look it up. A name in small type under the quote is enough, such as "Henry David Thoreau" or "Psalm 46:1." Traditional sayings and original lines don't need a credit.

What is the difference between a quote and a verse on a memorial card?

A verse is poetry, set in short lines that rhyme or have a beat. A quote is a sentence or two of prose, or a single line pulled from a longer work. Quotes usually take less space on the card.