An epitaph (in Greek, ἐπιτάφιος — literally "on the gravestone") is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial. An epitaph may be in verse; poets have been known to compose their own epitaphs prior to their death, as W.B. Yeats did.

Famous Epitaphs

Wife-Mother-Actress-Author
The world will remember.
Eve Arden
(Westwood Memorial Park; Westwood, California)

"That's All Folks!"
The Man of a Thousand Voices
Mel Blanc
(Hollywood Memorial Park; Hollywood, California)

Truth and History.
21 Men.
The Boy Bandit King --
He Died As He Lived.
William H. Bonney "Billy the Kid"
(Fort Sumner Cemetery; Fort Sumner New Mexico)

My Jesus Mercy
Alphonse Capone
(Mt. Carmel Cemetery; Chicago, Illinois)

A star on earth - a star in heaven
Karen Carpenter
(Forest Lawn; Cyprus, California)

His star will forever shine.
Bert Convy
(Forest Lawn; Hollywood Hills, California)

She did it the hard way.
Bette Davis
(Forest Lawn; Hollywood Hills, California)

"The Entertainer"
He did it all
Sammy Davis, Jr.
(Forest Lawn; Glendale, California)

Called Back
Emily Dickinson
(West Cemetery; Amherst, Massachusetts)

...that nothing's so sacred as honor and nothing's so loyal as love
Wyatt Earp
(Hills of Eternity; Colma, California)

The passive master lent his hand,
To the vast Soul which o'er him planned
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(Sleepy Hollow Cemetery; Concord, Massachusetts)

He made us laugh,
he took my pain away.
I love you, Lauretta.
Marty Feldman
(Forest Lawn; Hollywood Hills, California)

Equity-Integrity
Marshall Field
(Graceland Cemetery; Chicago, Illinois)

1880 - 1936
W.C. Fields
(Forest Lawn; Glendale, California)

The Body of
B. Franklin, Printer
Like the Cover of an old Book
Its Contents turn out
And Stript of its Lettering & Guilding
Lies here. Food for Worms
For, it will as he believed
appear once more
In a new and more elegant Edition
corrected and improved
By the Author
Benjamin Franklin
(Christ Church Burial Grounds; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

I had A Lover's Quarrel With The World
Robert Lee Frost
(Old Bennington Cemetery, Bennington, Vermont)

Our Darling Eva
We Love You
Eva Gabor
(Westwood Memorial Park; Los Angeles, California)

A genius of comedy
His talent brought joy and
Laughter to all the world.
Oliver Hardy
(Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park; California)

To
Yesterday's Companionship
and Tomorrow's Reunion
Rita Hayworth
(Holy Cross Cemetery; Culver City, California)

Here was buried Thomas Jefferson,
author of the Declaration of American Independence,
of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom,
and father of the University of Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson
(Monticello, Virginia)

A master of comedy
His genius in the art of humor
Brought gladness
To the world he loved.
Stan Laurel
(Forest Lawn; Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California)

...If I take the wings of the morning
and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea....
Anne and Charles Lindbergh
(Palapala Hoomu Congregational Cemetery; Kipahulu, Maui, Hawaii)

Gone are the living, but the dead remain,
And not neglected; for a hand unseen,
Scattering its bounty like a summer rain,
Still keeps their graves and their remembrance green.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(The Jewish Cemetery; Newport, Rhode Island)

Beloved Father
Bela Lugosi
(Holy Cross Cemetery; Culver City, California)

We live to love you more each day
Jayne Mansfield
(Fairview Cemetery; Plainfield, Pennsylvania)

Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime
Dean Martin
(Westwood Memorial Cemetery, Los Angeles, California)

Workers of all lands unite.
The philosophers have only
interpreted the world in various ways;
the point is to change it.
Karl Marx
(Highgate Cemetery; London, England)

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, 'Let Newton be!' and all was light.
written by Alexander Pope
Sir Isaac Newton
(Westminster Abbey, London, England)

Quoth the Raven,
"Nevermore."
Edgar Allan Poe
(Westminster Presbyterian Cemetery; Baltimore, Maryland)

We love you
Psalms: 23
Freddie Prinze
(Forest Lawn; Hollywood Hills, California)

One of a kind.
Buddy Rich
(Westwood Memorial Park; Westwood, California)

The Cowboy's Prayer
Oh Lord, I reckon I'm not much just by myself.
I fail to do a lot of things I ought to do.
But Lord, when trails are steep and passes high,
Help me to ride it straight the whole way through.
And when in the falling dusk I get the final call,
I do not care how many flowers they send--
Above all else the happiest trail would be
For You to say to me, "Let's ride, My friend."
Amen
Roy Rogers
(Sunset Hills Memorial Park, Apple Valley, California)

I never met a man I didn't like.
Will Rogers
(Will Rogers Memorial; Claremore, Oklahoma)

"Loving You is Easy Cause You're Beautiful"
Minnie Riperton Rudolph
Hers was a gift of love, a miracle of life,
For all the world to see and hear forever.
(Westwood Memorial Park; Los Angeles, California)

Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To digg the dust encloased heare!
Blest be the man that spares thes stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
William Shakespeare
(Holy Trinity Church; Stratford-on-Avon, England)

In loving memory from the Family
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel
(Hollywood Memorial Park; Hollywood, California)

Chief of the Hunkpapa Sioux
Sitting Bull
(Post Cemetery; Fort Yates, North Dakota)

The Greatest Blues Singer in the World
Will Never Stop Singing
Bessie Smith
(Mount Lawn Cemetery; Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania)

Here Rests in
Honored Glory
An American
Soldier
Known But to God
Unknown Soldier
(Arlington National Cemetery; Virginia)

And alien tears will fill for him
Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.
Oscar Wilde
(Pere Lachais; Paris, France)

Thank you for all the love you gave me.
There could be no one stronger.
Thank you for the many beautiful songs.
They will live long and longer.
Hank Williams
(Oakwood Cemetery; Montgomery, Alabama)

Against you I will fling myself,
unvanquished and unyielding, O Death!
Virginia Woolf
(Monk's House, Rodmell, Sussex, England)

Cast a cold eye
On life, on death
Horseman, pass by!
William Butler Yeats
(Drumcliffe Cemetery; County Sligo, Ireland)