80 Celebration of Life Quotes: For the Invitation, the Toast and the Slideshow

A celebration of life is not a funeral with better catering, and the words should not be funeral words.

That is the whole difficulty. Search for memorial quotes and you get lines about grief, rest and loss — perfectly good lines, written for a room that is crying. A celebration of life is a room that is meant to be laughing by the second hour. Use the wrong register in the invitation and people arrive dressed for the wrong event.

So these eighty are sorted by where they go — the invitation, the toast, the program, the photo wall, the speech — and chosen for a gathering that is deliberately warmer than a funeral.

Every quote with a name after it is a real attribution; the ones without a name are ours, and you can change them however you like. Where a famous line is almost certainly misattributed, we say so rather than repeat it — there is a section on that near the end, because celebration-of-life quotes are the worst-affected category on the internet.

If you have not planned the day itself yet, 30 celebration of life ideas covers the format, the food and the running order.

How to Choose One

Match the room you actually want. A quote sets the temperature before anyone arrives. "Wear colour, bring a story" and a line from Hunter S. Thompson tell people what kind of afternoon this is. So does a line about eternal rest — a different kind.

Would they have groaned at it? The test that matters. A person who never once said anything sentimental should not be introduced by a sentimental line.

Short for print, longer for speech. An invitation or a program has one line. A eulogy can carry a whole paragraph.

For the Invitation (1–12)

One line, at the top, doing the job of a dress code.

1. "There is a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance." — Ecclesiastes 3:4
2. "Come and help us remember him properly — loudly, and with food."
3. "May you live all the days of your life." — Jonathan Swift
4. "No black. She'd have hated it."
5. "Bring a story. That is the whole dress code."
6. "Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words." — Plautus
7. "A life like his is worth a whole afternoon."
8. "Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
9. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may." — Robert Herrick
10. "We are not holding a funeral. We are holding the party she would have thrown."
11. "Eat, drink and be merry." — Ecclesiastes 8:15
12. "Come as you are. He always did."

For a Toast (13–26)

Said standing, with a glass, to a room that is half laughing already. Short is essential — a toast that runs long stops being a toast.

1. "To a life thoroughly used up. Exactly as ordered."
2. "I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live." — George Bernard Shaw
3. "To the man who never once let a glass sit empty. To Dad."
4. "May the road rise up to meet you." — Irish blessing
5. "To her: too much, too loud, and not nearly long enough."
6. "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." — Lennon and McCartney
7. "Let us endeavour so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." — Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson
8. "Here's to the stories. There are more of them than there is time."
9. "The best way to pay for a lovely moment is to enjoy it." — Richard Bach
10. "To eighty-one years of doing it entirely his own way."
11. "Life is a great big canvas; throw all the paint you can at it." — Danny Kaye
12. "To absent friends — and to this one in particular."
13. "Well-behaved women seldom make history." — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
14. "Raise them high. He'd want them higher."

For the Program or Order of Service (27–38)

Printed, read while people are finding a seat. This is the one line everybody will actually read twice.

1. "To laugh often and much; to leave the world a bit better; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived — this is to have succeeded." — Bessie Anderson Stanley
2. "A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." — Jackie Robinson
3. "The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." — Cicero
4. "We are all just walking each other home." — Ram Dass
5. "Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones." — Shannon L. Alder
6. "It is not the length of life, but the depth of life." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
7. "Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it." — Haruki Murakami
8. "Today is not for grief. Today is for the good parts."
9. "The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost." — Eleanor Roosevelt
10. "Sixty-eight years, and not one of them wasted."
11. "Thank you for coming. He'd have said you didn't have to. He'd have been delighted you did."
12. "We are here to remember out loud."

For a Slideshow, Photo Wall or Memory Table (39–50)

These sit under pictures, so they can be shorter and more particular than anything spoken.

1. "Look at the state of him. Every single holiday."
2. "Forty years of the same grin."
3. "This is the face she made when she was about to say something outrageous."
4. "Proof, in case anyone doubted it."
5. "He took most of these. That's why he's in so few."
6. "The hat. The hat was not negotiable."
7. "Every picture here was somebody's favourite day."
8. "She is in the middle of every one of these. That was not an accident."
9. "1958 to last summer. Not one dull frame."
10. "Add yours to the table. She'd want the wall full."
11. "You will find yourself in one of these. That's the point."
12. "The evidence for the defence."

If you are still building the slideshow itself, our memorial slideshow guide covers running order, length and music.

To Open or Close a Speech (51–62)

Longer lines, meant to be read aloud. One at the top and one at the bottom is the classic shape, and it does most of the structural work for you.

1. "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming 'Wow! What a ride!'" — Hunter S. Thompson
2. "I'm not going to stand here and tell you he was a saint. He'd walk out."
3. "Remember me with smiles and laughter, for that is how I will remember you all." — widely attributed to Laura Ingalls Wilder, though the source has never been confirmed
4. "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." — widely attributed to A. A. Milne; it appears in adaptations rather than in his books
5. "We could stand here all afternoon. She'd tell us to sit down and eat something."
6. "To live in the hearts of those you love is the only immortality any of us were ever promised."
7. "There is nothing tragic about a life this full. There is only that it stopped."
8. "He would want me to be brief, mostly because he'd want to get to the bar."
9. "Grief is the receipt. Look at what we got for it."
10. "You do not get over people like this. You get to keep them."
11. "Go home tonight and tell somebody a story about her. That is the entire assignment."
12. "Thank you for loving her. She knew. She mentioned it more than you'd think."

For building the speech around one of these, how to write a eulogy has the structure, and funeral poems has full pieces if you want something longer to read.

The Funny Ones (63–72)

A celebration of life is the one occasion where these are appropriate. Use them for the person who would have used them.

1. "He is not late. He was never late. He has simply gone ahead to find parking."
2. "Cause of death: eighty-nine years of doing exactly as he pleased."
3. "She wanted a quiet ceremony. Look how well that went."
4. "In lieu of flowers, please argue about football at the reception."
5. "He'd be furious about the sandwiches."
6. "Retired at sixty. Never sat down once."
7. "She has finally got the last word, which is frankly typical."
8. "He always said he wanted a party. He did not say who would organise it."
9. "Enjoy yourself — it's later than you think."
10. "He'd want you to know the good stories are the true ones."

For a Caption or Social Post (73–80)

1. "One year of missing him and still laughing at the same stories."
2. "Celebrating a life today rather than mourning it. She'd approve."
3. "Everyone's coming. That tells you everything about him."
4. "Not sad today. Full."
5. "Raised a glass. Told the story. Cried a bit. Perfect."
6. "The room was too small, which is exactly how it should have been."
7. "Eighty people. One person. Worth it."
8. "Still the best company anyone here ever had."

About the Quotes Everyone Gets Wrong

Celebration-of-life quotes are the most-misattributed category on the internet, and it is worth knowing before you print two hundred programs with a name on them.

The most common false attributions in this genre:

• "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" is not Dr. Seuss. It appears nowhere in his work. Use it — it is a lovely line for an invitation — but leave the name off.
• "To laugh often and much…" is Bessie Anderson Stanley, from an essay she wrote in 1904. It is credited to Emerson roughly everywhere. Number 27 above uses her name, which is the correct one.
• "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away" is not Maya Angelou. Its origin is genuinely uncertain.
• "Do not go where the path may lead…" is far more likely Muriel Strode than Emerson.

None of this makes the lines worse. It only means an unattributed quote is the safer choice on anything printed — and an unattributed quote reads perfectly well.

Making It Sound Like Them

Two edits turn a borrowed line into theirs.

Add one concrete detail. "He always made room at the table" is fine. "He always made room at the table, usually by moving someone else" is him. The specific thing is what makes the room laugh in recognition, which is the entire objective of a celebration of life.

Use the number. Ages, years married, years in the same house, number of grandchildren. "Fifty-one years in that kitchen" outperforms any quotation, because nobody else could have written it.

And if nothing fits, say the plain true thing. "She was excellent company and we are going to miss her enormously" is a better opening line than most of what is on this page.

Where to Keep the Ones You Choose

You will use four or five of these before the day is done — one on the invitation, one in the program, one under the slideshow, one in the toast. The simplest way to keep them together with the photos and the stories they belong to, and to let the rest of the family add theirs, is a memorial page. Creating an online memorial takes about as long as reading this article, and it is also where the day itself can live afterwards.

FAQ

What is a good quote for a celebration of life invitation? One line that sets the tone, at the top, above the details. "There is a time to weep and a time to laugh" (Ecclesiastes 3:4) or something plainer such as "No black. She'd have hated it." The invitation quote is functionally a dress code — pick it for the room you want.

Are funny quotes appropriate at a celebration of life? Yes, and this is the occasion for them. The format exists precisely so that a family can be lighter than a funeral allows. The test is not whether the line is funny but whether it is funny about them — humour that the person would have enjoyed lands; humour at their expense does not.

How is a celebration of life quote different from a memorial quote? Register. Memorial quotes are written for grief and rest; celebration-of-life quotes are written for gratitude and gathering. If you want the more traditional register — for a headstone, a card or a service — our hundred memorial quotes and short memorial quotes cover it.

Should I put the author's name on the program? Only if you are confident the attribution is real. Half the quotes in this category carry the wrong name. An unattributed line looks entirely normal on a program; a misattributed one is permanent and someone will notice.

What do I say if I have to speak and I am not a speaker? Open with a quote, tell one specific story, and close with a quote. Three minutes is a complete and welcome speech. Numbers 51 to 62 are written to be the two ends of exactly that.

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GetMemorial helps families build beautiful, lasting online memorials in minutes — a permanent home for the tributes, photos, and stories from the day. Build yours at GetMemorial.com.