Favorite Funeral Quotes

ByDr. Dan

Last week I attended the second funeral service in one month, both for a long-time good friend and ministry colleague.  Time for a few of my favorite funeral quotes:

  • “The song is ended, but the melody lingers on…” Irving Berlin, songwriter.
  • “How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” A.A. Milne, author of “Winnie the Pooh.”
  • “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Suess
  • “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’” Erma Bombeck
  • “When you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. Live your life in a manner so that when you die the world cries, and you rejoice.” Native American Proverb
  • “May you be in heaven a full half hour before the devil knows you are dead.” – Irish Blessing
  • “They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.” Garrison Keillor
  • “Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” Mark Twain
  • “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” C. S. Lewis
  • “Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.” Yogi Berra
  • “The idea is to die young as late as possible.” Ashley Montagu.
  • “Don’t die on third.” LeRoy Ashmore, My High School Baseball Coach.
  • “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9
  • “To live is Christ and to die is gain.”  Philippians 1:21

Dr. Dan R. Crawford, Senior Professor, Chair of Prayer Emeritus; Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. Former Head of Task Force for the Teaching of Prayer in Theological Education for America’s National Prayer Committee.  Administrative Consultant for the Valley Baptist Missions Education Center.