When we are dead we are praised by those who survive us, though we frequently have no other merit than that of being no longer alive.
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.
I know if I were to drop dead now, people would probably write nice things in the obit.
Dead people can be our heroes because they can't disappoint us later; they only improve over time, as we forget more and more about them.
Concerning the dead nothing but good shall be spoken. [Lat., De mortuis nil nisi bonum.]
It's like obituaries, when you die they finally give you good reviews.
Epitaphs are cheap, and they do a poor chap a world of good after he is dead, especially if he had hard luck while he was alive. I wish they were used more.
The maxim that men are not to be praised before their death was invented by envy and too lightly adopted by philosophers.
It is human to exaggerate the merits of the dead.
Folks build a reputation by attacking you while you’re alive - or praising you after you ain’t.
We are a jingoistic nation - whether it is politics or films or whatever. We can posthumously shower praises and accolades on people, but when they are alive, we don't bother about them. A classic case is Om Puri.
Certainly the highest posthumous praise that can be conferred upon any writer is the assertion that his or her writing permanently altered the literary landscape for the better, opening new textual doors and engaging new readers. That the author's oeuvre was essential and irreplaceable and transformative.
I believe that it is possible for one to praise, without concern, any man after he is dead since every reason and supervision for adulation is lacking.
I don't want to be remembered. I want the nice words when I can hear them.
If you could have a famous writer, dead or alive, write an obituary for you and really puff you up to have been something you weren’t, perhaps, or otherwise take liberties with your memory, what writer would you choose?
To honor with hymns and panegyrics those who are still alive is not safe; a man should run his course and make a fair ending, and then we will praise him; and let praise be given equally to women as well as men who have been distinguished in virtue.
