The Epitaph Question

Abstract

Benjamin Franklin allegedly said, “I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.” What are we to make of this humorous, yet dark comment? At a deeper level it may indicate the way Franklin would like to be remembered. He may have been asking himself what his obituary would look like. Would people remember him positively or negatively?

I knew if I waited around long enough something like this would happen.

—George Bernard Shaw

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth.

—Henry David Thoreau