Eulogy
A speech of praise for someone who has died, often the source of widely-quoted lines.
A eulogy is a speech of praise, traditionally given at a funeral or memorial service. The word comes from the Greek eulogia, meaning 'good words'. Eulogies are a major source of widely-quoted lines because they are written for one specific person at the most emotionally heightened moment in their public memory.
Pericles's funeral oration over the Athenian war dead, as recorded by Thucydides, is the foundational text of the genre in Western tradition. Modern examples include Earl Spencer's eulogy for Diana, Princess of Wales, and the body of remarks delivered for Nelson Mandela.
A great eulogy resists the temptation of sweeping generalisation. The most quoted lines from the form are usually concrete — a habit, a sentence, a moment — that comes to stand for the whole life.
“Now he belongs to the ages.”
Keep reading the glossary
A short text written in memory of a dead person — often inscribed on a tombstone.
The art of persuasive speaking and writing — the discipline behind every great quoted line.
A 2,000-year-old practice of distilling ethical instruction into short, repeatable lines.
A personal notebook of quotations, ideas, and passages — a tradition stretching from antiquity to today.